Millennium Management LLC Has $8.30 Million Stock Position in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Free Report) by 1,265.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 243,773 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 225,921 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned 0.33% of TowneBank worth $8,303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in TowneBank in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in TowneBank by 258.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,434 shares of the bank's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in TowneBank by 807.8% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,215 shares of the bank's stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 1,971 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in TowneBank in the fourth quarter valued at about $82,000. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in TowneBank by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,858 shares of the bank's stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 848 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TOWN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Hovde Group raised their target price on TowneBank from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen cut TowneBank from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd.

TowneBank Price Performance

TOWN stock traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $34.32. The company had a trading volume of 249,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,593. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.66. The company has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.96 and a beta of 0.79. TowneBank has a 52 week low of $25.70 and a 52 week high of $38.28.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. TowneBank had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 15.77%. The firm had revenue of $190.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $191.29 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.48 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that TowneBank will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

TowneBank Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 27th. This is an increase from TowneBank's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. TowneBank's payout ratio is 45.76%.

TowneBank Company Profile

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.