Towne Bank $TOWN Shares Sold by FJ Capital Management LLC

FJ Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 17.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 182,586 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 39,873 shares during the period. FJ Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Towne Bank were worth $6,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Towne Bank by 22.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 330,937 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,441,000 after acquiring an additional 59,770 shares during the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Towne Bank by 51.5% during the third quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 341,471 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,805,000 after acquiring an additional 116,013 shares during the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its position in shares of Towne Bank by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 175,430 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,854,000 after acquiring an additional 34,133 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP increased its position in shares of Towne Bank by 7.2% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 603,649 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,868,000 after acquiring an additional 40,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boothbay Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Towne Bank by 147.2% during the third quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 157,289 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,437,000 after acquiring an additional 93,673 shares during the last quarter. 55.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TOWN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Towne Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Towne Bank from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Hovde Group lowered their price objective on shares of Towne Bank from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective (down from $42.00) on shares of Towne Bank in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.50.

Towne Bank Trading Up 1.5%

NASDAQ TOWN opened at $35.67 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Towne Bank has a 52 week low of $31.91 and a 52 week high of $37.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a PE ratio of 18.02 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.66.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The business had revenue of $247.62 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.02 million. Towne Bank had a net margin of 13.51% and a return on equity of 9.91%. The company’s revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Towne Bank will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Towne Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 26th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 26th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. This is a boost from Towne Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Towne Bank’s payout ratio is presently 54.55%.

Towne Bank 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.