Sei Investments Co. Increases Stake in Towne Bank $TOWN

Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 88.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 172,751 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 81,158 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Towne Bank were worth $5,817,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TOWN. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Towne Bank by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 57,160 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after acquiring an additional 2,037 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Towne Bank in the 1st quarter valued at $409,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Towne Bank by 8.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 76,470 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,575,000 after purchasing an additional 6,229 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Towne Bank by 1,674.1% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,453 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $150,000 after acquiring an additional 4,202 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Towne Bank by 1.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,399,012 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $148,114,000 after purchasing an additional 59,267 shares during the period. 55.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $38.00 target price (down from $42.00) on shares of Towne Bank in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Hovde Group dropped their price objective on Towne Bank from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Towne Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Towne Bank from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.50.

Towne Bank Stock Performance

Shares of TOWN stock opened at $38.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $35.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.21. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.85 and a beta of 0.69. Towne Bank has a 1 year low of $31.91 and a 1 year high of $39.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $245.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $245.33 million. Towne Bank had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 9.99%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Towne Bank will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Towne Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 26th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 26th. 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 2.9%. Towne Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.46%.

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.