Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) Shares Gap Up Following Dividend Announcement

Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:AMTB) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The stock had previously closed at $22.40, but opened at $24.20. Amerant Bancorp shares last traded at $24.29, with a volume of 23,126 shares traded.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently -24.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AMTB shares. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Amerant Bancorp from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Amerant Bancorp from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Amerant Bancorp in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Amerant Bancorp from $26.50 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amerant Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.20.

Amerant Bancorp Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $999.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.08 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company’s fifty day moving average is $23.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.29.

Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. Amerant Bancorp had a positive return on equity of 5.73% and a negative net margin of 8.38%. The firm had revenue of ($999.00) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Amerant Bancorp Inc. will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Amerant Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Amerant Bancorp by 74.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,642,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,585,000 after buying an additional 2,401,027 shares during the period. Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC purchased a new position in Amerant Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $13,613,000. Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in Amerant Bancorp during the third quarter worth approximately $11,495,000. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,392,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,945,000. 42.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amerant Bancorp Company Profile

Amerant Bancorp Inc operates as the bank holding company for Amerant Bank, N.A. that provides banking products and services to individuals and businesses in the United States and internationally. It offers checking, savings, business, and money market accounts; cash management services; and certificates of deposits.