T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Acquires 210,521 Shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Free Report) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,344,673 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 210,521 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned about 5.79% of TowneBank worth $147,980,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in TowneBank during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of TowneBank during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 258.5% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,434 shares of the bank's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of TowneBank by 807.8% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,215 shares of the bank's stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 1,971 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new position in TowneBank in the fourth quarter valued at about $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Hovde Group increased their price objective on shares of TowneBank from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of TowneBank in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

TowneBank Price Performance

NASDAQ:TOWN traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $32.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 40,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 257,174. The company has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28 and a beta of 0.79. TowneBank has a twelve month low of $25.70 and a twelve month high of $38.28. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.60.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $190.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $191.29 million. TowneBank had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The firm's revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that TowneBank will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TowneBank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. TowneBank's payout ratio is 42.37%.

About TowneBank

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.