Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Downgrades Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) to Market Perform

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Stephens increased their price objective 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 issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Veritex in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Raymond James upgraded Veritex from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Veritex from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Veritex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.40.

Veritex Stock Performance

NASDAQ VBTX opened at $27.08 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $25.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.62. Veritex has a fifty-two week low of $16.84 and a fifty-two week high of $28.46. The company has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.74 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $113.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $110.22 million. Veritex had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Veritex will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. Veritex’s payout ratio is currently 46.51%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veritex

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Veritex during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Veritex in the first quarter worth about $29,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Veritex by 1,302.9% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 3,101 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd increased its position in Veritex by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 5,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Veritex during the 1st quarter valued at about $177,000. 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.