Renaissance Technologies LLC Has $19.88 Million Stake in Towne Bank $TOWN

Renaissance Technologies LLC lowered its position in shares of Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 13.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 590,319 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 88,820 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Towne Bank were worth $19,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TOWN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Towne Bank by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,082,514 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $269,713,000 after purchasing an additional 443,345 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Towne Bank by 1.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,399,012 shares of the bank’s stock worth $148,114,000 after purchasing an additional 59,267 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Towne Bank by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,138,398 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,931,000 after buying an additional 21,482 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Towne Bank by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,811,213 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,448,000 after buying an additional 12,672 shares during the period. Finally, Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. bought a new position in Towne Bank in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $51,116,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TOWN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $38.00 target price (down from $42.00) on shares of Towne Bank in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Towne Bank from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Towne Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Hovde Group reduced their price objective on shares of Towne Bank from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.50.

Towne Bank Stock Performance

Shares of Towne Bank stock opened at $38.21 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $35.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.12. Towne Bank has a 1-year low of $31.91 and a 1-year high of $39.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 0.69.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). Towne Bank had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 9.99%. The business had revenue of $245.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.33 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Towne Bank will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Towne Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 26th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Towne Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 26th. Towne Bank’s payout ratio is presently 31.46%.

Towne Bank Profile

TowneBank is a Virginia‐based financial services company organized as a bank holding company. Its primary subsidiary, TowneBank, operates a network of community banking offices and mortgage production facilities. The company offers a comprehensive range of commercial and consumer banking solutions, including deposit accounts, lending products, treasury management, and private banking services tailored to individuals, small businesses, and middle‐market corporations.

In addition to traditional banking, TowneBank provides specialty services through affiliated subsidiaries.