Mendon Capital Advisors Corp Sells 53,100 Shares of Amerant Bancorp Inc. $AMTB

Mendon Capital Advisors Corp cut its stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB) by 16.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 273,308 shares of the company’s stock after selling 53,100 shares during the quarter. Amerant Bancorp makes up approximately 1.7% of Mendon Capital Advisors Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp’s holdings in Amerant Bancorp were worth $6,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State of Wyoming bought a new position in Amerant Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $78,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Amerant Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $129,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $143,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 60.5% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,000 after buying an additional 2,819 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.11% of the company’s stock.

Key Amerant Bancorp News

Here are the key news stories impacting Amerant Bancorp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research upgraded Amerant Bancorp from hold to strong-buy, which can support sentiment by signaling improving analyst confidence in the stock. Zacks.com
• Positive Sentiment: The company reported Q2 earnings of $0.53 per share, beating Wall Street expectations and topping the consensus estimate of $0.41; revenue also came in slightly ahead of forecasts at $98.81 million. Amerant Bancorp Inc. (AMTB) Tops Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: Amerant Bancorp also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share, reinforcing its shareholder-return profile, though the payout is modest and unlikely to be the main stock driver. Dividend announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional coverage noted that investors were focusing on key operating metrics from the earnings release, but the main takeaway remains the earnings beat. Amerant Bancorp (AMTB) Reports Q2 Earnings: What Key Metrics Have to Say

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AMTB. Weiss Ratings downgraded Amerant Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.67.

Amerant Bancorp Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE AMTB opened at $28.43 on Monday. Amerant Bancorp Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.62 and a 52 week high of $28.63. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $24.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a PE ratio of 20.45 and a beta of 0.88.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.14. Amerant Bancorp had a net margin of 8.83% and a return on equity of 8.26%. The company had revenue of $98.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.64 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Amerant Bancorp Inc. will post 1.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.90%.

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.