Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 5,203 Shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 117,524 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 5,203 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in TowneBank were worth $3,527,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TOWN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TowneBank by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,253,308 shares of the bank’s stock worth $217,165,000 after purchasing an additional 827,143 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of TowneBank by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,372,044 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,391,000 after purchasing an additional 678,368 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of TowneBank during the 4th quarter worth about $18,040,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of TowneBank by 24.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,709,804 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,809,000 after purchasing an additional 333,828 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TowneBank by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,151,219 shares of the bank’s stock worth $154,227,000 after purchasing an additional 316,304 shares during the period. 55.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TOWN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of TowneBank from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of TowneBank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.00.

TowneBank Price Performance

TowneBank stock opened at $25.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.48 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.87. TowneBank has a 1 year low of $21.22 and a 1 year high of $31.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.91.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The bank reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $155.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $164.67 million. TowneBank had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 8.03%. TowneBank’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that TowneBank will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

TowneBank Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. TowneBank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.31%.

TowneBank Company Profile

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.