EP Wealth Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 8,494 Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 8,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Quarry LP lifted its position in Veritex by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 824 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Veritex during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Veritex by 73.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 1,621 shares during the period. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Veritex during the fourth quarter worth about $143,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.31% of the company’s stock.

Veritex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VBTX opened at $24.94 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.79 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.95. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $18.74 and a one year high of $31.62. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.15.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $109.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.73 million. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Veritex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 8th. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James downgraded Veritex from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Veritex from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Veritex in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Veritex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group upgraded Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.25.

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.