Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Makes New $3.80 Million Investment in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 139,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,797,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Veritex in the third quarter valued at approximately $11,139,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veritex in the 4th quarter valued at $6,974,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Veritex by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 631,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,618,000 after acquiring an additional 122,809 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in Veritex by 748.1% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 125,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,297,000 after acquiring an additional 110,480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Veritex by 13.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 680,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,918,000 after purchasing an additional 78,082 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.31% of the company’s stock.

Veritex Stock Performance

Shares of VBTX opened at $24.52 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57 and a beta of 1.36. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.74 and a 52 week high of $31.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $25.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.95.

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

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Veritex’s payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on VBTX shares. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Veritex from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Hovde Group upgraded Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Veritex in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Stephens lowered their target price on Veritex from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.50.

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.