Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) Short Interest Up 31.5% in August

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,250,000 shares, an increase of 31.5% from the July 31st total of 950,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 354,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on VBTX. Stephens increased their price target on shares of Veritex from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Veritex in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Veritex from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Veritex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Veritex during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veritex during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Veritex during the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Veritex in the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its stake in Veritex by 1,302.9% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 3,101 shares during the period. 88.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veritex Price Performance

Shares of Veritex stock opened at $25.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Veritex has a 12 month low of $15.93 and a 12 month high of $25.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.72 and a 200 day moving average of $21.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.65 and a beta of 1.38.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.01). Veritex had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 7.97%. The business had revenue of $106.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $108.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. Veritex’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Veritex will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. Veritex’s payout ratio is presently 46.51%.

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.