Russell Investments Group Ltd. Trims Stock Position in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its stake in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 181,161 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 13,993 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in TowneBank were worth $6,170,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in TowneBank by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 69,269 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,359,000 after buying an additional 19,847 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 234.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 35,980 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,225,000 after acquiring an additional 25,219 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of TowneBank by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 88,252 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,006,000 after acquiring an additional 1,216 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of TowneBank in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $22,894,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of TowneBank by 23.4% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 22,901 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $780,000 after purchasing an additional 4,339 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Hovde Group upgraded TowneBank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, April 4th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $41.00 target price on shares of TowneBank in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

TowneBank Stock Down 0.4 %

TOWN stock opened at $30.64 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $34.74 and a 200 day moving average of $34.68. The firm has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of 14.25 and a beta of 0.79. TowneBank has a twelve month low of $25.70 and a twelve month high of $38.28.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.07. TowneBank had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 15.77%. On average, research analysts expect that TowneBank will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TowneBank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. TowneBank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.51%.

TowneBank Company Profile

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.