Osaic Holdings Inc. Acquires 60,953 Shares of Towne Bank $TOWN

Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 617.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 70,831 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,953 shares during the quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Towne Bank worth $2,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Towne Bank in the 1st quarter worth about $230,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Towne Bank by 42.2% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 140,791 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,814,000 after acquiring an additional 41,785 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Towne Bank in the first quarter worth approximately $1,329,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its position in Towne Bank by 488.9% in the 1st quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 113,262 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,872,000 after buying an additional 94,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Towne Bank by 32.3% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,996 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after purchasing an additional 8,538 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Towne Bank in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Towne Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Towne Bank currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Towne Bank Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:TOWN opened at $33.69 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.04 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $33.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.67. Towne Bank has a 52 week low of $29.43 and a 52 week high of $38.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $215.67 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $222.28 million. Towne Bank had a net margin of 15.69% and a return on equity of 9.64%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Towne Bank will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Towne Bank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 26th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 26th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Towne Bank’s payout ratio is presently 48.21%.

About Towne Bank

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.