Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Stock Crosses Below 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)’s share price passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $25.77 and traded as low as $25.55. Veritex shares last traded at $25.71, with a volume of 323,982 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VBTX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Veritex from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James raised shares of Veritex from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Veritex from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veritex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Veritex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.40.

Veritex Stock Down 4.9 %

The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.67 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $28.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.79% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business had revenue of $113.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.22 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.17 EPS for the current year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.28%.

Insider Transactions at Veritex

In related news, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.25, for a total value of $508,805.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 62,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,894,950.75. This represents a 21.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Malcolm Holland III sold 12,777 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.69, for a total value of $353,795.13. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 224,132 shares in the company, valued at $6,206,215.08. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VBTX. Sippican Capital Advisors lifted its position in shares of Veritex by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 99,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,612,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Veritex by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Veritex by 1.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 73,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,920,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd raised its holdings in Veritex by 16.5% in the second quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 5,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Veritex during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Veritex Company Profile

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.