Janus Henderson Group PLC Buys 607,768 Shares of Towne Bank $TOWN

Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 86.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,314,373 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 607,768 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Towne Bank were worth $44,255,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TOWN. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Towne Bank by 931.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 753 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares during the period. Abound Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Towne Bank in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Towne Bank during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Towne Bank during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, CrossGen Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Towne Bank during the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Institutional investors own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research raised Towne Bank from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Weiss Ratings raised Towne Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective (down from $42.00) on shares of Towne Bank in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Hovde Group cut their price objective on shares of Towne Bank from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Towne Bank has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.50.

Towne Bank Stock Performance

TOWN opened at $37.91 on Monday. Towne Bank has a 52-week low of $31.91 and a 52-week high of $39.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.89. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.15.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $245.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.33 million. Towne Bank had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 9.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Towne Bank will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Towne Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 26th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 26th. This is a positive change from Towne Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Towne Bank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.46%.

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.