Analysts Set TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) PT at $28.75

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the four analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $28.75.

TOWN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of TowneBank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on TowneBank from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 66,328 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,974,000 after buying an additional 4,396 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in TowneBank during the fourth quarter valued at about $878,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in TowneBank by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 442,221 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,160,000 after purchasing an additional 106,168 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of TowneBank by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 76,388 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,273,000 after purchasing an additional 2,102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 55.3% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 166,395 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,952,000 after buying an additional 59,217 shares in the last quarter. 55.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

TowneBank Price Performance

TowneBank stock opened at $27.77 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.50. TowneBank has a 12 month low of $21.22 and a 12 month high of $31.08. The company has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42 and a beta of 0.88. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The bank reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.05). TowneBank had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 8.03%. The firm had revenue of $155.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $164.67 million. The firm’s revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that TowneBank will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

TowneBank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. TowneBank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.31%.

About TowneBank

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.