Royce & Associates LP Has $24.81 Million Stock Holdings in Towne Bank $TOWN

Royce & Associates LP increased its position in shares of Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 23.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 743,455 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 139,806 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.99% of Towne Bank worth $24,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TOWN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Towne Bank by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,082,514 shares of the bank’s stock worth $269,713,000 after purchasing an additional 443,345 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in shares of Towne Bank by 1,220.9% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 157,411 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,382,000 after purchasing an additional 145,494 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Towne Bank by 56.6% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 381,761 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,052,000 after purchasing an additional 137,988 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Towne Bank by 188.2% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 195,283 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,751,000 after purchasing an additional 127,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Towne Bank by 51.5% during the 3rd quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 341,471 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,805,000 after purchasing an additional 116,013 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

Towne Bank Stock Down 0.1%

Towne Bank stock opened at $34.58 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.54. Towne Bank has a fifty-two week low of $31.91 and a fifty-two week high of $37.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.46 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.74. Towne Bank had a net margin of 13.51% and a return on equity of 10.48%. The business had revenue of $247.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.02 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. Towne Bank’s quarterly revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Towne Bank will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Towne Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 26th. This is a positive change from Towne Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Towne Bank’s payout ratio is 56.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on TOWN. Zacks Research lowered shares of Towne Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Towne Bank from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Hovde Group decreased their price objective on shares of Towne Bank from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $38.00 target price (down from $42.00) on shares of Towne Bank in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.50.

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.