Towne Bank $TOWN Position Boosted by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,515,187 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,069 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. owned approximately 2.02% of Towne Bank worth $50,562,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bayview Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Towne Bank during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,835,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Towne Bank by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 198,084 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,610,000 after purchasing an additional 2,801 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in shares of Towne Bank by 93.5% during the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,059 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 6,311 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its position in shares of Towne Bank by 75.2% during the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 156,002 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,206,000 after purchasing an additional 66,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Towne Bank by 46.3% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 16,181 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $540,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective (down from $42.00) on shares of Towne Bank in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Towne Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note 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. Finally, Hovde Group reduced 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.50.

Towne Bank Price Performance

NASDAQ TOWN opened at $35.67 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.67. Towne Bank has a 52-week low of $31.91 and a 52-week high of $37.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.02 and a beta of 0.70. 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 data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. Towne Bank had a return on equity of 9.91% and a net margin of 13.51%.The firm had revenue of $247.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.02 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Towne Bank will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Towne Bank Increases Dividend

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

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.