Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Sees Large Volume Increase – Time to Buy?

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Friday . Approximately 1,015,998 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 45% from the previous session’s volume of 698,992 shares.The stock last traded at $30.17 and had previously closed at $29.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VBTX shares. William Blair upgraded shares of Veritex to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 target price (up from $30.00) on shares of Veritex in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Veritex from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Veritex in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Veritex from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.25.

Veritex Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.35. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a PE ratio of 14.41 and a beta of 1.06.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 3rd. The financial services provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter. Veritex had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 7.55%. The company had revenue of $64.03 million for the quarter. As a group, research analysts expect that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Angela Harper sold 47,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.37, for a total value of $1,544,566.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 59,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,931,938.71. This represents a 44.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO C Malcolm Holland III sold 125,762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.26, for a total transaction of $4,057,082.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 294,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,500,828.08. The trade was a 29.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 320,699 shares of company stock worth $10,361,627. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VBTX. Salzhauer Michael boosted its stake in Veritex by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 59,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,482,000 after purchasing an additional 10,184 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Veritex by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 19,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 2,347 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Veritex by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 271,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,776,000 after purchasing an additional 7,255 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Veritex by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 14,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 3,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.31% of the company’s stock.

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.