Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume - What's Next?

Key Points

• Unusually-high trading volume: 272,387 shares traded (up 2% vs. the prior session) as the stock changed hands near $23.99, and analysts' consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $23.75 and individual targets up to $25.
• Earnings and dividend: Amerant beat expectations with $0.53 EPS versus $0.43 expected on $230.7M revenue, and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.09 (annualized yield ~1.5%, payout ratio 28.8%).
• Insider and institutional interest: A director purchased 4,816 shares in January and institutional investors now own about 42.11% of the company, with recent position increases from Vanguard, Wellington and State Street.

Shares of Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB - Get Free Report) saw strong trading volume on Friday . 272,387 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 2% from the previous session's volume of 268,044 shares.The stock last traded at $23.9850 and had previously closed at $23.70.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Amerant Bancorp from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Zacks Research upgraded Amerant Bancorp from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Amerant Bancorp from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Amerant Bancorp from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Amerant Bancorp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, March 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amerant Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Amerant Bancorp Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $955.78 million, a P/E ratio of 19.01 and a beta of 0.93. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $22.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.10. Amerant Bancorp had a net margin of 7.75% and a return on equity of 7.78%. The firm had revenue of $230.71 million for the quarter.

Amerant Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Amerant Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is 28.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amerant Bancorp news, Director Odilon Almeida acquired 4,816 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.99 per share, with a total value of $101,087.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,582.84. This trade represents a 963.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.37% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,732,375 shares of the company's stock valued at $110,463,000 after buying an additional 19,426 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,424,944 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,311,000 after buying an additional 206,874 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Amerant Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,621,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,335,719 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,740,000 after buying an additional 25,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,173,568 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,896,000 after buying an additional 104,578 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.11% of the company's stock.

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.

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