Swiss National Bank Increases Stake in Towne Bank $TOWN

Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 13.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 172,915 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.22% of Towne Bank worth $5,822,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Towne Bank by 931.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 753 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares in the last quarter. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in Towne Bank in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Towne Bank in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Towne Bank during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, CrossGen Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Towne Bank during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Towne Bank Price Performance

NASDAQ:TOWN opened at $38.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $35.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.07. Towne Bank has a 12 month low of $31.91 and a 12 month high of $38.69. The firm has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.85 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 9.99% and a net margin of 25.64%.The firm had revenue of $245.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.33 million. On average, analysts expect that Towne Bank will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Towne Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 26th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a positive change from Towne Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 26th. Towne Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.46%.

Towne Bank Company 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.