Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Shares Pass Below 200-Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) passed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $25.77 and traded as low as $25.55. Veritex shares last traded at $25.71, with a volume of 323,982 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VBTX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Veritex from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Veritex from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James raised shares of Veritex from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Veritex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veritex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.40.

Veritex Trading Down 4.9 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.80. The firm has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 15.67 and a beta of 1.38. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Veritex had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 7.79%. The company had revenue of $113.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.22 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. Veritex’s payout ratio is 51.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veritex

In other Veritex news, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of Veritex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.25, for a total value of $508,805.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 62,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,894,950.75. The trade was a 21.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO C Malcolm Holland III sold 12,777 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.69, for a total value of $353,795.13. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 224,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,206,215.08. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veritex

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Veritex during the third quarter worth about $11,139,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Veritex by 67.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 807,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,248,000 after buying an additional 325,569 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Veritex by 14.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,445,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,566,000 after acquiring an additional 299,562 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Veritex by 66.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 424,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,944,000 after acquiring an additional 169,448 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. increased its position in Veritex by 39.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 561,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,782,000 after purchasing an additional 157,571 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.31% of the company’s stock.

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.