Azora Capital LP Takes $11.50 Million Position in Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:AMTB)

Azora Capital LP purchased a new position in Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:AMTB) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 537,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,495,000. Azora Capital LP owned approximately 1.61% of Amerant Bancorp at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMTB. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in Amerant Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,392,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $6,945,000. Curi RMB Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 94.2% in the third quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 388,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,298,000 after purchasing an additional 188,319 shares during the last quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC purchased a new position in Amerant Bancorp during the third quarter worth approximately $3,419,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Amerant Bancorp by 9.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 864,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,621,000 after buying an additional 72,028 shares in the last quarter. 42.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMTB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Amerant Bancorp from $26.50 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Amerant Bancorp from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Stephens raised shares of Amerant Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.60.

Amerant Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Amerant Bancorp stock opened at $24.87 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of -16.80 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Amerant Bancorp Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.54 and a 52 week high of $27.00. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.02.

Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. Amerant Bancorp had a negative net margin of 8.38% and a positive return on equity of 5.73%. The company had revenue of ($999.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.39 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Amerant Bancorp Inc. will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Amerant Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently -24.32%.

About Amerant Bancorp

Amerant Bancorp Inc operates as the bank holding company for Amerant Bank, N.A. that provides banking products and services to individuals and businesses in the United States and internationally. It offers checking, savings, business, and money market accounts; cash management services; and certificates of deposits.