TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) Shares Sold by Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC trimmed its holdings in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 21.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,684 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 8,000 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in TowneBank were worth $791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,253,308 shares of the bank’s stock worth $217,165,000 after buying an additional 827,143 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in TowneBank in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $18,040,000. Nuance Investments LLC raised its position in TowneBank by 41.9% in the first quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,821,618 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,546,000 after purchasing an additional 537,651 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of TowneBank by 24.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,709,804 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,809,000 after buying an additional 333,828 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of TowneBank by 6.5% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,151,219 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $154,227,000 after buying an additional 316,304 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.03% of the company’s stock.

TowneBank Stock Performance

Shares of TowneBank stock opened at $23.59 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.16. The company has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of 9.79 and a beta of 0.96. TowneBank has a one year low of $21.22 and a one year high of $33.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The bank reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $242.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.38 million. TowneBank had a net margin of 20.61% and a return on equity of 9.48%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that TowneBank will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TowneBank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 29th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 28th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.24%. TowneBank’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on TOWN shares. StockNews.com initiated coverage on TowneBank in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Hovde Group initiated coverage on shares of TowneBank in a report on Friday, August 11th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $27.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.75.

TowneBank Profile

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.