Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $29.89 and last traded at $29.75, with a volume of 6413 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $26.85.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VBTX. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Veritex from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Veritex from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Veritex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James raised Veritex from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Veritex from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.40.

Veritex Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79 and a beta of 1.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $113.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.22 million. Veritex had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 7.79%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.17 EPS for the current year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO C Malcolm Holland III sold 12,777 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.69, for a total transaction of $353,795.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 224,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,206,215.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veritex

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sippican Capital Advisors grew its stake in Veritex by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 99,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,612,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Veritex by 1.9% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 27,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $578,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in shares of Veritex by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 47,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $974,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Veritex by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 10,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd boosted its stake in Veritex by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 5,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares during the period. 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.