Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $26.21 and last traded at $26.0890, with a volume of 83522 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $25.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AMTB shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Zacks Research raised Amerant Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Amerant Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.67.

Amerant Bancorp Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $23.29 and a 200 day moving average of $22.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $998.70 million, a P/E ratio of 18.00 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $177.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $102.56 million. Amerant Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.59% and a net margin of 8.83%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Amerant Bancorp Inc. will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 25.53%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amerant Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMTB. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 83.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,000 after acquiring an additional 10,249 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 4.6% during the first 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. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 6.3% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 91,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 1.8% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new position in Amerant Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $275,000. Institutional investors own 42.11% of the company’s stock.

Amerant Bancorp Company 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.