Short Interest in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) Decreases By 14.6%

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) saw a large decrease in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,350,000 shares, a decrease of 14.6% from the March 31st total of 1,580,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 405,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Veritex Stock Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ:VBTX opened at $24.00 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Veritex has a twelve month low of $18.74 and a twelve month high of $31.62. The company has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day moving average is $23.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.31.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $109.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $110.73 million. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Veritex will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Veritex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from Veritex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 8th. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.14%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veritex

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VBTX. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Veritex by 3.0% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,040,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,960,000 after purchasing an additional 59,056 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Veritex by 23.8% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 13,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 2,653 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in Veritex by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 15,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veritex by 29.2% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 14,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 3,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Veritex by 2.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 271,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,776,000 after acquiring an additional 7,255 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VBTX shares. Raymond James cut shares of Veritex from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Veritex in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Veritex from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Hovde Group raised Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on Veritex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veritex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.25.

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.