Rafferty Asset Management LLC Sells 3,050 Shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 46,775 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,050 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in TowneBank were worth $1,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of TowneBank by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,482,171 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $254,843,000 after acquiring an additional 49,970 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in TowneBank by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,344,673 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $147,980,000 after buying an additional 210,521 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in TowneBank by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,155,201 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,406,000 after buying an additional 180,330 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in TowneBank by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 845,335 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,792,000 after buying an additional 6,285 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in TowneBank by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 787,667 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,827,000 after buying an additional 46,678 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

TowneBank Price Performance

NASDAQ TOWN opened at $35.27 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $33.25 and a 200 day moving average of $34.66. TowneBank has a 1 year low of $25.70 and a 1 year high of $38.28. The company has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 16.40 and a beta of 0.79.

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

TowneBank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 27th. This is a boost from TowneBank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. TowneBank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.76%.

About TowneBank

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.