Comerica Bank Cuts Position in Veritex Holdings, Inc. $VBTX

Comerica Bank trimmed its position in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) by 31.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,579 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Veritex were worth $978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VBTX. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Veritex by 11.4% in the 4th 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. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new position in shares of Veritex in the 4th quarter worth about $256,000. Algert Global LLC grew its stake in shares of Veritex by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 84,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,291,000 after buying an additional 4,951 shares in the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex in the fourth quarter valued at about $494,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex in the fourth quarter valued at about $231,000. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VBTX shares. DA Davidson increased their target price on 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 increased their target price on 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 reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $34.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Veritex in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Veritex in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, William Blair upgraded Veritex to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veritex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.25.

Veritex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VBTX opened at $34.22 on Friday. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.37 and a fifty-two week high of $34.96. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.65. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.30 and a beta of 1.08.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.55% and a net margin of 14.83%.The firm had revenue of $109.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. Sell-side 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.90%.

Insider Activity

In other Veritex news, EVP Angela Harper sold 47,716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.37, for a total transaction of $1,544,566.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 59,683 shares in the company, valued at $1,931,938.71. This trade represents a 44.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John Sughrue sold 5,669 shares of Veritex stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $181,408.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 50,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,620,864. The trade was a 10.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 320,699 shares of company stock worth $10,361,627 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Veritex 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.