Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) Short Interest Update

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,350,000 shares, an increase of 74.1% from the February 13th total of 775,400 shares. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 404,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on VBTX. Hovde Group raised Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reduced their target price on Veritex from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Veritex from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Veritex from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.50.

Veritex Stock Performance

VBTX stock opened at $24.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.54 and a beta of 1.36. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.88. 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 12-month low of $18.22 and a 12-month high of $31.62.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.02). Veritex had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 13.44%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Veritex will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.03%.

Institutional Trading of Veritex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in Veritex in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Veritex by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 824 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex in the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Veritex by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP acquired a new position in Veritex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $98,000. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.