Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analyst sentiment is moderately positive: Six firms give Amerant Bancorp a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, with an average 12-month price target of $27.75. Ratings include two buys, one strong buy and three holds.
• Recent results exceeded expectations: Amerant reported quarterly EPS of $0.53 versus the $0.39 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $183.31 million. Analysts expect full-year EPS of approximately $2.22.
• Institutional ownership and shareholder returns remain notable: Hedge funds and other institutions own 42.11% of the stock, while Amerant pays a quarterly dividend of $0.09, equivalent to a 1.2% annual yield.

Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $27.75.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Amerant Bancorp from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Amerant Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Amerant Bancorp from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Stephens cut Amerant Bancorp from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $32.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, August 12th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amerant Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMTB. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Amerant Bancorp by 83.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,594 shares of the company's stock valued at $466,000 after purchasing an additional 10,249 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,989 shares of the company's stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 6.3% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 91,965 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,898,000 after buying an additional 5,434 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 1.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 35,819 shares of the company's stock valued at $653,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $275,000. 42.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amerant Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE:AMTB opened at $29.20 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Amerant Bancorp has a 1 year low of $15.62 and a 1 year high of $30.60. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $27.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.35. The company has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.01 and a beta of 0.83.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $183.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.64 million. Amerant Bancorp had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 8.30%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Amerant Bancorp will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Amerant Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.90%.

Amerant Bancorp Company Profile

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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