Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $148.11 Million Stake in Towne Bank $TOWN

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 1.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,399,012 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 59,267 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.06% of Towne Bank worth $148,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TOWN. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. bought a new position in Towne Bank in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $51,116,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Towne Bank in the 4th quarter valued at about $14,820,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Towne Bank by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,082,514 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $269,713,000 after purchasing an additional 443,345 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Towne Bank by 34.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 569,906 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,018,000 after purchasing an additional 147,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in shares of Towne Bank by 1,220.9% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 157,411 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,382,000 after buying an additional 145,494 shares during the period. 55.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TOWN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Towne Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $38.00 price target (down from $42.00) on shares of Towne Bank in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research raised Towne Bank from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Hovde Group decreased their target price on Towne Bank from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Towne Bank currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.50.

Towne Bank Price Performance

Towne Bank stock opened at $36.65 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.02. The stock has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.29 and a beta of 0.69. Towne Bank has a 52 week low of $31.91 and a 52 week high of $37.86.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $245.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.33 million. Towne Bank had a return on equity of 9.99% and a net margin of 25.64%. On average, research analysts forecast that Towne Bank will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Towne Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 26th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from Towne Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 26th. Towne Bank’s payout ratio is currently 31.46%.

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.