Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Sells 52,374 Shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. $VBTX

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) by 42.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 70,918 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 52,374 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Veritex were worth $1,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VBTX. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Veritex in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Quarry LP increased its stake in Veritex by 327.6% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 6,534 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,006 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new stake in Veritex during the 1st quarter valued at about $227,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Veritex during the 4th quarter valued at about $231,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Veritex by 92.6% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 8,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 4,271 shares in the last quarter. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Veritex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VBTX opened at $34.19 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $31.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 1.08. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.37 and a 52-week high of $34.96.

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

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on VBTX shares. William Blair upgraded shares of Veritex to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. DA Davidson raised their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Veritex from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price objective (up from $30.00) on shares of Veritex in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Veritex in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Angela Harper sold 47,716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 59,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,931,938.71. This trade represents a 44.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Cara Mcdaniel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.53, for a total transaction of $325,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $565,111.16. The trade was a 36.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 320,699 shares of company stock worth $10,361,627. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.