Cerity Partners LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 117,524 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 5,203 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC owned about 0.16% of TowneBank worth $3,527,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TOWN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in TowneBank by 12.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,253,308 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $217,165,000 after buying an additional 827,143 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its position in TowneBank by 40.1% during the third quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,372,044 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $54,391,000 after buying an additional 678,368 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in TowneBank during the fourth quarter valued at about $18,040,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in TowneBank by 24.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,709,804 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,809,000 after buying an additional 333,828 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in TowneBank by 6.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,151,219 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $154,227,000 after buying an additional 316,304 shares during the period. 55.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TOWN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of TowneBank from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of TowneBank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.00.

TowneBank Stock Performance

TowneBank stock opened at $25.83 on Thursday. TowneBank has a 1-year low of $21.22 and a 1-year high of $31.08. The firm has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.48 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.09 and a 200-day moving average of $26.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The bank reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.05). TowneBank had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 16.33%. The company had revenue of $155.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.67 million. TowneBank’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that TowneBank will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

TowneBank Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. TowneBank’s payout ratio is currently 48.31%.

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.