Prudential Financial Inc. Has $7.98 Million Stock Holdings in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 293,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,115 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.54% of Veritex worth $7,975,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VBTX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veritex by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,874,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $105,243,000 after purchasing an additional 39,746 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veritex by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,293,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,064,000 after buying an additional 18,185 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Veritex by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 789,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,454,000 after acquiring an additional 14,924 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veritex by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 741,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,133,000 after acquiring an additional 8,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Veritex by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 680,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,918,000 after acquiring an additional 78,082 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Stephens cut their price target on shares of Veritex from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Hovde Group upgraded Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James lowered their price target on Veritex from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Veritex in a report on Monday, March 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veritex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.50.

Veritex Stock Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ VBTX opened at $24.48 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $18.74 and a one year high of $31.62. The firm has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 12.55 and a beta of 1.36.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.02). Veritex had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 13.44%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Veritex’s payout ratio is presently 41.03%.

About Veritex

Veritex Holdings, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Veritex Community Bank that provides various commercial banking products and services to small and medium-sized businesses, and professionals. The company accepts deposit products include demand, savings, money market, and time accounts. Its loan products include commercial real estate and general commercial, mortgage warehouse loans, residential real estate, construction and land, farmland, paycheck protection program, 1-4 family residential, agricultural, multi-family residential, and consumer loans, as well as purchased receivables financing.