Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Has $706,000 Stock Holdings in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 26,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Veritex were worth $706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Veritex by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 123,585 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,356,000 after purchasing an additional 5,976 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Veritex by 25,046.2% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 45,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,243,000 after acquiring an additional 45,584 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Veritex by 52.6% in the fourth quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 601,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,331,000 after acquiring an additional 207,376 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Veritex during the 4th quarter worth $6,974,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Veritex by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 53,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after acquiring an additional 3,112 shares during the last quarter. 88.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veritex Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ VBTX opened at $21.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $24.20 and its 200-day moving average is $26.49. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $18.74 and a one year high of $31.62. The firm has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 1.11.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.02). Veritex had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.59%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VBTX shares. Stephens reduced their price target on Veritex from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Veritex in a report on Monday, March 17th. Hovde Group raised Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Veritex from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $31.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.90.

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.