TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.27 Per Share

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 14th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of 0.27 per share by the bank on Friday, July 11th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 27th. This is a 8.0% increase from TowneBank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25.

TowneBank has increased its dividend by an average of 8.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 13 years. TowneBank has a payout ratio of 29.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect TowneBank to earn $3.35 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.9%.

TowneBank Trading Up 1.2%

TowneBank stock opened at $35.25 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.40 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.59. TowneBank has a 12-month low of $25.70 and a 12-month high of $38.28.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $190.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $191.29 million. TowneBank had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 15.77%. TowneBank’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that TowneBank will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on TOWN shares. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of TowneBank in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Hovde Group boosted their price objective on shares of TowneBank from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th.

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.