Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Towne Bank $TOWN

Key Points

• Clark Capital Management increased its stake in Towne Bank by 51.5% in Q3 to 341,471 shares (0.46% of the company), valued at about $11.8 million.
• Institutional ownership stands at 55.99%, with major holders including Vanguard (7.64M shares, ~$264M) and Brown Advisory, which boosted its position to 1.22M shares after a 2,646% increase.
• Analysts are mixed (consensus Hold, $41 target); Towne slightly missed quarterly EPS by $0.01 and announced a $0.27 quarterly dividend (annualized yield ~3.3%, payout ratio ~49%).

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. grew its stake in Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Free Report) by 51.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 341,471 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 116,013 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. owned 0.46% of Towne Bank worth $11,805,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TOWN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Towne Bank by 3.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,639,169 shares of the bank's stock worth $264,086,000 after purchasing an additional 234,403 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Towne Bank by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,322,602 shares of the bank's stock worth $149,433,000 after buying an additional 53,467 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Towne Bank by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,003,504 shares of the bank's stock worth $69,010,000 after buying an additional 51,028 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Towne Bank by 2,646.3% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,218,786 shares of the bank's stock worth $41,658,000 after buying an additional 1,174,406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Towne Bank by 6.1% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 613,323 shares of the bank's stock valued at $21,203,000 after buying an additional 35,286 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on TOWN shares. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Towne Bank in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Towne Bank from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Towne Bank Stock Performance

Shares of TOWN opened at $32.99 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.00 and a beta of 0.75. Towne Bank has a 12 month low of $29.43 and a 12 month high of $37.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $35.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.58.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.01). Towne Bank had a return on equity of 10.11% and a net margin of 15.12%.The business had revenue of $221.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $225.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Towne Bank will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Towne Bank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Towne Bank's payout ratio is presently 49.09%.

Towne Bank Profile

TowneBank is a Virginia‐based financial services company organized as a bank holding company. Its primary subsidiary, TowneBank, operates a network of community banking offices and mortgage production facilities. The company offers a comprehensive range of commercial and consumer banking solutions, including deposit accounts, lending products, treasury management, and private banking services tailored to individuals, small businesses, and middle‐market corporations.

In addition to traditional banking, TowneBank provides specialty services through affiliated subsidiaries.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TOWN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.