Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. Lowers Stock Position in Amerant Bancorp Inc. $AMTB

Key Points

• Patriot Financial Partners trimmed its Amerant Bancorp stake by 2.5% in Q1, but it still held 2.26 million shares worth about $49.8 million, making AMTB its 4th-largest position and about 12.8% of its portfolio.
• Analysts remain mixed on the stock: recent rating changes left Amerant Bancorp with a consensus Hold and a consensus price target of $23.67.
• Amerant Bancorp reported better-than-expected Q1 results, with EPS of $0.44 topping estimates and revenue of $177.94 million well above forecasts; the company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share.

Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. reduced its position in Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB - Free Report) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,257,283 shares of the company's stock after selling 58,306 shares during the period. Amerant Bancorp makes up about 12.8% of Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. owned approximately 5.61% of Amerant Bancorp worth $49,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 49,309 shares of the company's stock valued at $962,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Amerant Bancorp by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 154,003 shares of the company's stock worth $2,807,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,986 shares of the company's stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 35,819 shares of the company's stock valued at $653,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,989 shares of the company's stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. 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, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Amerant Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amerant Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $23.67.

Amerant Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE:AMTB opened at $26.15 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.60. Amerant Bancorp Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.62 and a 52-week high of $26.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of 18.54 and a beta of 0.88.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.01. Amerant Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.59% and a net margin of 8.83%.The business had revenue of $177.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $102.56 million. Analysts forecast that Amerant Bancorp Inc. will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Amerant Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.53%.

Amerant Bancorp 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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