Short Interest in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) Increases By 74.1%

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in 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. Based on an average daily volume of 404,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Veritex Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of Veritex stock opened at $24.45 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.54 and a beta of 1.36. Veritex has a fifty-two week low of $18.41 and a fifty-two week high of $31.62. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $26.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.91.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.02). Veritex had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.59%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Veritex will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

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 of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veritex

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VBTX. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of Veritex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Quarry LP grew its holdings 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 valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 824 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Veritex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veritex by 14.7% during the fourth 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 bought a new position in shares of Veritex during the third quarter valued at approximately $98,000. 88.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on VBTX shares. Hovde Group upgraded Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Veritex from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens lowered their target price on 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, Raymond James lowered 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.50.

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.