Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Veritex from $23.50 to $25.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Veritex from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Stephens reissued an equal weight rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of Veritex in a report on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Veritex presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $24.13.

Veritex Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:VBTX opened at $19.32 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $19.86 and its 200 day moving average is $20.19. Veritex has a 12 month low of $14.88 and a 12 month high of $24.46.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $77.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.67 million. Veritex had a return on equity of 9.47% and a net margin of 14.51%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Veritex will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.40%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Veritex by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,772,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,777,000 after purchasing an additional 52,933 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Veritex by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 547,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,734,000 after purchasing an additional 50,406 shares in the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp purchased a new position in shares of Veritex during the 4th quarter valued at $8,144,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Veritex by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new position in shares of Veritex during the 4th quarter valued at $210,000. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.