Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) Rating Increased to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

AMTB has been the topic of several other reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Amerant Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised Amerant Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.67.

Amerant Bancorp Price Performance

AMTB stock opened at $24.65 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $970.10 million, a PE ratio of 17.48 and a beta of 0.90. Amerant Bancorp has a 12 month low of $15.62 and a 12 month high of $24.70. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $23.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.01. Amerant Bancorp had a net margin of 8.83% and a return on equity of 8.59%. The company had revenue of $177.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.56 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Amerant Bancorp will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Amerant Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Amerant Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 25.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMTB. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 83.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 10,249 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased 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 buying an additional 963 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 6.3% during 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 buying an additional 5,434 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised 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 acquiring an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $275,000. 42.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.