TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $37.80 and last traded at $37.62, with a volume of 327368 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $36.56.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded TowneBank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $35.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

TowneBank Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.79 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $34.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.81.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $258.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $179.80 million. TowneBank had a return on equity of 7.32% and a net margin of 14.89%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that TowneBank will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

TowneBank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. TowneBank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.25%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in TowneBank in the third quarter valued at $73,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of TowneBank in the 2nd quarter valued at $62,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in TowneBank during the 2nd quarter worth $73,000. KBC Group NV purchased a new stake in TowneBank in the third quarter valued at $100,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in TowneBank by 137.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,882 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $161,000 after acquiring an additional 2,829 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

About TowneBank

TowneBank provides retail and commercial banking services for individuals, commercial enterprises, and professionals. The company operates through three segments: Banking, Realty, and Insurance. It accepts various deposits, including demand deposits, savings accounts, money rate savings, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts.