Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. Invests $51.12 Million in Towne Bank $TOWN

Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. bought a new stake in Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,518,143 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $51,116,000. Towne Bank makes up 13.2% of Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TOWN. NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Towne Bank during the 4th quarter valued at $14,820,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Towne Bank by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,082,514 shares of the bank’s stock worth $269,713,000 after purchasing an additional 443,345 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Towne Bank by 34.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 569,906 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,018,000 after acquiring an additional 147,244 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Towne Bank by 1,220.9% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 157,411 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,382,000 after buying an additional 145,494 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP raised its position in shares of Towne Bank by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 743,455 shares of the bank’s stock worth $24,809,000 after purchasing an additional 139,806 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on TOWN shares. Weiss Ratings raised Towne Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $38.00 target price (down from $42.00) on shares of Towne Bank in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Towne Bank from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Hovde Group dropped their target price on Towne Bank from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.50.

Towne Bank Trading Down 1.2%

TOWN opened at $36.56 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.46 and a beta of 0.69. Towne Bank has a fifty-two week low of $31.91 and a fifty-two week high of $37.86. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $35.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The firm had revenue of $247.62 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Towne Bank will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Towne Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 26th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 26th. This is a positive change from Towne Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Towne Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.57%.

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.