Zacks Research Upgrades Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) to Strong-Buy

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Amerant Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Amerant Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.67.

Amerant Bancorp Stock Performance

AMTB opened at $25.81 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.31 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $24.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.79. Amerant Bancorp has a 1-year low of $15.62 and a 1-year high of $26.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $98.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.64 million. On average, analysts expect that Amerant Bancorp will post 1.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 149.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $78,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position 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 valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 526 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Amerant Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $129,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Amerant Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $143,000. Institutional investors own 42.11% of the company’s stock.

About Amerant Bancorp

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.