Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $26.33 and last traded at $26.2640, with a volume of 175661 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $25.76.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMTB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Amerant Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Amerant Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amerant Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.67.

Amerant Bancorp Stock Up 2.5%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $23.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.53. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.74 and a beta of 0.88.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $177.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $102.56 million. Amerant Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.59% and a net margin of 8.83%. As a group, research analysts expect that Amerant Bancorp Inc. will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth $44,621,000. North Reef Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Amerant Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,577,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 756.2% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 437,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,437,000 after purchasing an additional 386,710 shares during the last quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in Amerant Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $4,153,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,424,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,311,000 after purchasing an additional 206,874 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.11% of the company’s stock.

Amerant Bancorp Company Profile

Amerant Bancorp is the bank holding company and parent of Amerant Bank, a community-oriented financial institution headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida. Amerant Bank delivers a comprehensive range of deposit and lending products to both retail and commercial clients, including checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, consumer mortgages, and business lines of credit. In addition, the company offers specialized services such as treasury management, international trade finance, foreign exchange, and asset-based lending to support the complex needs of corporate and high-net-worth customers.

Tracing its roots to the early 1980s, Amerant has grown through a combination of strategic acquisitions and organic expansion.