Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires 13,216 Shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. $VBTX

Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 270,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,216 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.50% of Veritex worth $6,742,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VBTX. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Veritex by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 38,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,923 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Veritex by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 444,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,073,000 after buying an additional 33,566 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new position in Veritex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $256,000. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veritex by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 84,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,291,000 after buying an additional 4,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Veritex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $494,000. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on VBTX shares. William Blair upgraded shares of Veritex to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Veritex from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Veritex in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $34.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Veritex in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Veritex from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veritex news, CEO C Malcolm Holland III sold 125,762 shares of Veritex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.26, for a total value of $4,057,082.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 294,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,500,828.08. The trade was a 29.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Lavonda Renfro sold 53,411 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.38, for a total value of $1,729,448.18. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 60,209 shares in the company, valued at $1,949,567.42. The trade was a 47.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 320,699 shares of company stock worth $10,361,627 over the last ninety days. 4.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Veritex Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ VBTX opened at $34.10 on Wednesday. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.37 and a 52-week high of $34.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The business has a fifty day moving average of $30.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 1.08.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. Veritex had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 7.55%. The business had revenue of $109.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $110.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 7th. Veritex’s payout ratio is presently 41.90%.

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.