Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Stock Passes Below 200-Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-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 traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Veritex Trading Down 4.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67 and a beta of 1.38.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $113.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.22 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Veritex

In other news, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.25, for a total transaction of $508,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 62,643 shares in the company, valued at $1,894,950.75. This trade represents a 21.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Malcolm Holland III sold 12,777 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.69, for a total value of $353,795.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 224,132 shares in the company, 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

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VBTX. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Veritex during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Veritex by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP bought a new position in Veritex during the 3rd quarter valued at $98,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd grew its holdings in Veritex by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 5,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $122,000 after acquiring an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Veritex by 295.8% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 7,438 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $196,000 after purchasing an additional 5,559 shares during the last quarter. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.