Bailard Inc. Makes New Investment in Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Bailard Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 20,400 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $697,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Towne Bank by 19.9% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,584,688 shares of the bank's stock valued at $88,370,000 after purchasing an additional 429,487 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Towne Bank in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,202,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Towne Bank by 32.6% in the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,850 shares of the bank's stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Towne Bank during the first quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Towne Bank by 12.1% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 38,930 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,331,000 after acquiring an additional 4,206 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on TOWN shares. Wall Street Zen raised Towne Bank from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Hovde Group raised their target price on Towne Bank from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th.

Towne Bank Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TOWN traded down $0.08 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $35.70. The stock had a trading volume of 304,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,975. Towne Bank has a fifty-two week low of $29.43 and a fifty-two week high of $38.28. The business's 50-day moving average price is $34.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.35. The company has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13 and a beta of 0.80.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.07. Towne Bank had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 17.15%. The business had revenue of $190.04 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $191.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Towne Bank will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Towne Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 27th. This is a positive change from Towne Bank's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. Towne Bank's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.76%.

About Towne Bank

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.