Stephens Reiterates “Equal Weight” Rating for TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Stephens reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $41.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

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

TowneBank Trading Up 1.5 %

TOWN stock opened at $34.84 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $35.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.70. TowneBank has a 12 month low of $25.70 and a 12 month high of $38.28.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.07. TowneBank had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 15.77%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that TowneBank will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

TowneBank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. TowneBank’s payout ratio is currently 46.51%.

Institutional Trading of TowneBank

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of TowneBank by 16.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 361,960 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,966,000 after buying an additional 50,149 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in TowneBank by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,685,643 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,738,000 after acquiring an additional 18,929 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in TowneBank in the 3rd quarter valued at about $516,000. Arbor Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in TowneBank during the third quarter worth about $577,000. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. lifted its position in shares of TowneBank by 30.1% during the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 184,376 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,028,000 after purchasing an additional 42,641 shares in 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.