Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Price Target to $30.00

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) had its price target cut by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $33.00 to $30.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on VBTX. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Veritex in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Veritex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James lowered Veritex from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Hovde Group raised Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.25.

Veritex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VBTX opened at $23.30 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.42. Veritex has a 52 week low of $18.74 and a 52 week high of $31.62. The company has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $109.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.73 million. Veritex had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Veritex will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Veritex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from Veritex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.03%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veritex

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VBTX. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Veritex by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Veritex by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $146,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Veritex by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 37,056 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $925,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Veritex by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 73,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,920,000 after buying an additional 701 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in Veritex by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $303,000 after buying an additional 751 shares in the last quarter. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.