Brown Advisory Inc. Has $50.56 Million Position in Towne Bank $TOWN

Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,515,187 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 23,069 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Towne Bank were worth $50,562,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Towne Bank by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,082,514 shares of the bank’s stock worth $269,713,000 after buying an additional 443,345 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Towne Bank by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,339,745 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $144,819,000 after purchasing an additional 17,143 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Towne Bank by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,138,398 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,931,000 after purchasing an additional 21,482 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Towne Bank by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,811,213 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,448,000 after purchasing an additional 12,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in Towne Bank by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 743,455 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $24,809,000 after purchasing an additional 139,806 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on TOWN shares. Zacks Research downgraded Towne Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $38.00 price target (down from $42.00) on shares of Towne Bank in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Towne Bank from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Hovde Group lowered their price target on Towne Bank from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.50.

Towne Bank Stock Performance

Shares of Towne Bank stock opened at $35.67 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.67. The company has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.02 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Towne Bank has a 1 year low of $31.91 and a 1 year high of $37.86.

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

Towne Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 26th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. This is an increase from Towne Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 26th. Towne Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.55%.

About Towne Bank

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.