Brokerages Set Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB) PT at $23.67

Shares of Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $23.6667.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AMTB. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded Amerant Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Amerant Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd.

Amerant Bancorp Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Amerant Bancorp stock opened at $26.15 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.60. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.54 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Amerant Bancorp has a 1 year low of $15.62 and a 1 year high of $26.66.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.01. Amerant Bancorp had a net margin of 8.83% and a return on equity of 8.59%. The business had revenue of $177.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.56 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amerant Bancorp will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.53%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amerant Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 83.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 10,249 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $454,000 after acquiring an additional 963 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 91,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 35,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $653,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Amerant Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $275,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.11% of the company’s stock.

About Amerant Bancorp

Amerant Bancorp is the bank holding company and parent of Amerant Bank, a community-oriented financial institution headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida. Amerant Bank delivers a comprehensive range of deposit and lending products to both retail and commercial clients, including checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, consumer mortgages, and business lines of credit. In addition, the company offers specialized services such as treasury management, international trade finance, foreign exchange, and asset-based lending to support the complex needs of corporate and high-net-worth customers.

Tracing its roots to the early 1980s, Amerant has grown through a combination of strategic acquisitions and organic expansion.