EJF Capital LLC Takes Position in Towne Bank $TOWN

EJF Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 53,821 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,861,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its stake in Towne Bank by 0.6% in the third quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 51,733 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,788,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Towne Bank by 44.1% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Towne Bank by 150.3% in the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 816 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Towne Bank by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 68,857 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in Towne Bank by 37.2% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,205 shares of the bank’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

Towne Bank Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:TOWN opened at $34.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57 and a beta of 0.77. Towne Bank has a 12 month low of $29.43 and a 12 month high of $37.86. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.01). Towne Bank had a return on equity of 10.11% and a net margin of 15.12%.The firm had revenue of $221.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $225.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. Towne Bank’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Towne Bank will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Towne Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Towne Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on TOWN shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Towne Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Towne Bank in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Towne Bank has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.00.

Towne Bank Company Profile

TowneBank is a Virginia‐based financial services company organized as a bank holding company. Its primary subsidiary, TowneBank, operates a network of community banking offices and mortgage production facilities. The company offers a comprehensive range of commercial and consumer banking solutions, including deposit accounts, lending products, treasury management, and private banking services tailored to individuals, small businesses, and middle‐market corporations.

In addition to traditional banking, TowneBank provides specialty services through affiliated subsidiaries.