Towne Bank $TOWN Shares Bought by Squarepoint Ops LLC

Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 471.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 64,597 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,302 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in Towne Bank were worth $2,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Towne Bank by 1.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,399,012 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $148,114,000 after buying an additional 59,267 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Towne Bank by 3,774.5% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,752,290 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,983,000 after buying an additional 3,655,443 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. acquired a new stake in Towne Bank in the 1st quarter valued at $51,116,000. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Towne Bank by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,515,187 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,562,000 after acquiring an additional 23,069 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Towne Bank by 86.0% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,314,373 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,255,000 after acquiring an additional 607,768 shares in the last quarter. 55.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TOWN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Towne Bank from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of Towne Bank from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.50.

Towne Bank Trading Up 0.9%

TOWN opened at $37.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.50. Towne Bank has a 1-year low of $31.91 and a 1-year high of $39.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.68.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $245.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $245.33 million. Towne Bank had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 9.60%. Analysts expect that Towne Bank will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Towne Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 25th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Towne Bank’s payout ratio is 31.46%.

Towne Bank Company Profile

TowneBank is a financial services company headquartered in Suffolk, Virginia. Founded in 1999 by community leaders in Hampton Roads, the company operates as the parent of TowneBank, a community bank serving southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

Through its banking operations, TowneBank provides personal and business deposit accounts, residential and commercial lending, cash-management services, online and mobile banking, and other financial products. Its customer base includes individuals, families, small businesses, commercial enterprises, and nonprofit organizations.

Beyond traditional banking, TowneBank offers mortgage lending, wealth management, insurance, and real estate-related services through its family of companies.