Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

AMTB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut Amerant Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amerant Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.67.

Amerant Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of AMTB stock opened at $25.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.31 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $24.08 and a 200 day moving average of $22.79. Amerant Bancorp has a 52 week low of $15.62 and a 52 week high of $26.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.14. Amerant Bancorp had a net margin of 8.83% and a return on equity of 8.59%. The business had revenue of $98.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.64 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Amerant Bancorp will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Amerant Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.53%.

Institutional Trading of Amerant Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 49,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Amerant Bancorp by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 154,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,807,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Amerant Bancorp by 11.8% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 1.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 35,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $653,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the period. 42.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.