Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) Stock Bumped Up to Buy by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on AMTB. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Amerant Bancorp in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Stephens cut shares of Amerant Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Zacks Research cut shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $35.00 target price (up from $33.50) on shares of Amerant Bancorp in a report on Monday, October 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amerant Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.25.

Amerant Bancorp Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE AMTB opened at $29.54 on Friday. Amerant Bancorp has a 1-year low of $16.70 and a 1-year high of $31.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.32 and a 200-day moving average of $25.34. The firm has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of 17.48 and a beta of 0.80.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $108.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $103.35 million. Amerant Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 10.63%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Amerant Bancorp will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.30%.

Institutional Trading of Amerant Bancorp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth about $1,214,000. North Reef Capital Management LP bought a new position in Amerant Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $25,577,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Amerant Bancorp by 25.2% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 198,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,371,000 after buying an additional 39,971 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 45.3% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 55,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,217,000 after buying an additional 17,201 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 10.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,388,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,611,000 after buying an additional 133,050 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.11% of the company’s stock.

About Amerant Bancorp

Amerant Bancorp is the bank holding company for Amerant Bank, a regional financial institution headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida. Through its banking subsidiary, the company provides financial products and services to consumers, businesses and institutions, with a primary focus on markets in Florida and Texas.

Amerant Bank offers deposit accounts, consumer and commercial loans, residential mortgages, home equity products, credit cards and treasury management services. It also provides wealth management and investment services, along with digital banking tools that allow customers to manage accounts, transfer funds and make payments online and through mobile devices.

The company traces its origins to 1970, when it was established as Commercebank.