Dark Forest Capital Management LP Takes $655,000 Position in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 19,232 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $655,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of TowneBank by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,482,171 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $254,843,000 after purchasing an additional 49,970 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,155,201 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,406,000 after buying an additional 180,330 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in TowneBank by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 845,335 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,792,000 after buying an additional 6,285 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in TowneBank by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 714,850 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $24,348,000 after acquiring an additional 46,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in TowneBank during the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,894,000. 55.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TOWN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of TowneBank in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Hovde Group raised shares of TowneBank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, April 4th.

TowneBank Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:TOWN opened at $32.84 on Friday. TowneBank has a twelve month low of $25.70 and a twelve month high of $38.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $33.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.60.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $190.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $191.29 million. TowneBank had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 7.77%. As a group, analysts anticipate that TowneBank will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

TowneBank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. TowneBank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.37%.

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.