Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB) Short Interest Up 35.5% in March

Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,228,319 shares, a growth of 35.5% from the February 26th total of 906,667 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 313,812 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days. Approximately 3.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AMTB shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Amerant Bancorp from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on Amerant Bancorp from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Amerant Bancorp in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Amerant Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Amerant Bancorp Price Performance

NYSE AMTB traded down $0.25 on Friday, reaching $21.53. The company had a trading volume of 171,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,141. The stock has a market capitalization of $866.05 million, a PE ratio of 17.22 and a beta of 1.00. Amerant Bancorp has a 12 month low of $15.62 and a 12 month high of $23.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $21.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.04.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.10. Amerant Bancorp had a net margin of 7.75% and a return on equity of 7.78%. The business had revenue of $230.71 million during the quarter.

Amerant Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Odilon Almeida purchased 4,816 shares of Amerant Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.99 per share, for a total transaction of $101,087.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,316 shares in the company, valued at $111,582.84. This represents a 963.20% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 5.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Amerant Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AMTB. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $44,621,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Amerant Bancorp by 756.2% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 437,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,437,000 after purchasing an additional 386,710 shares in the last quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Amerant Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at $4,153,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Amerant Bancorp by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,424,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,311,000 after purchasing an additional 206,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Essex Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth $3,006,000. 42.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amerant Bancorp Company Profile

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.