Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) Downgraded to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Friday morning.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price (up from $29.00) on shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Stephens reduced their price objective on Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.40.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida Stock Performance

SBCF opened at $25.84 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.07 and a beta of 0.89. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has a 52-week low of $21.36 and a 52-week high of $31.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The business’s fifty day moving average is $24.44 and its 200-day moving average is $26.93.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $140.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.41 million. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida had a return on equity of 5.91% and a net margin of 14.95%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.32%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SBCF. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 154.0% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 343.9% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 38.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. 81.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of integrated financial services. It provides banking and investment services to businesses and consumers, including personal and business deposit products, Internet and mobile banking, personal, commercial and mortgage loans, wealth management services, and treasury management solutions.