TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) Short Interest Update

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) saw a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 874,100 shares, an increase of 40.9% from the December 15th total of 620,200 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 252,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

TowneBank Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TOWN opened at $34.01 on Friday. TowneBank has a fifty-two week low of $25.70 and a fifty-two week high of $38.28. The company has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.45.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $258.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.80 million. TowneBank had a net margin of 14.89% and a return on equity of 7.32%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that TowneBank will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TowneBank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. TowneBank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised TowneBank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Institutional Trading of TowneBank

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TOWN. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of TowneBank by 2.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,269,588 shares of the bank’s stock worth $116,431,000 after purchasing an additional 119,459 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in TowneBank by 7,668.0% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,974,871 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,289,000 after buying an additional 1,949,448 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in TowneBank by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,685,643 shares of the bank’s stock worth $55,738,000 after buying an additional 18,929 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in TowneBank by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 839,050 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,739,000 after acquiring an additional 7,738 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 784,909 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $21,404,000 after acquiring an additional 2,676 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

TowneBank Company Profile

TowneBank provides retail and commercial banking services for individuals, commercial enterprises, and professionals. The company operates through three segments: Banking, Realty, and Insurance. It accepts various deposits, including demand deposits, savings accounts, money rate savings, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts.