Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $29.40.

SBCF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida in a research note on Saturday, September 27th.

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida Trading Up 1.6%

SBCF stock opened at $30.92 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a 52-week low of $21.36 and a 52-week high of $32.09. The firm has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97 and a beta of 0.94.

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.10. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida had a net margin of 16.63% and a return on equity of 6.65%. The business had revenue of $151.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.08 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida by 21.9% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 17,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $475,000 after buying an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida by 28.1% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. 81.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of integrated financial services. It provides banking and investment services to businesses and consumers, including personal and business deposit products, Internet and mobile banking, personal, commercial and mortgage loans, wealth management services, and treasury management solutions.