Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stake in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Free Report) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,409,093 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 101,677 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.18% of TowneBank worth $169,891,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nuance Investments LLC increased its position in shares of TowneBank by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,372,044 shares of the bank's stock worth $54,391,000 after purchasing an additional 678,368 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of TowneBank in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,040,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,709,804 shares of the bank's stock worth $46,809,000 after acquiring an additional 333,828 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in TowneBank by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,151,219 shares of the bank's stock worth $154,227,000 after acquiring an additional 316,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in TowneBank by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,625,697 shares of the bank's stock valued at $96,624,000 after purchasing an additional 244,965 shares in the last quarter. 55.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TOWN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered TowneBank from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of TowneBank from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, TowneBank currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $28.75.

TowneBank Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of TOWN stock traded down $0.52 on Monday, reaching $27.54. 313,693 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 243,642. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 13.30 and a beta of 0.88. TowneBank has a one year low of $21.22 and a one year high of $31.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The bank reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $155.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.67 million. TowneBank had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 16.33%. The firm's revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that TowneBank will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TowneBank Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. TowneBank's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.31%.

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.