Rhumbline Advisers Sells 5,319 Shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Rhumbline Advisers trimmed its holdings in shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 4.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 122,036 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 5,319 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in TowneBank were worth $4,172,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TOWN. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in TowneBank during the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,894,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of TowneBank in the 4th quarter valued at $14,122,000. FJ Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of TowneBank in the 4th quarter valued at $9,908,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of TowneBank by 1,265.5% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 243,773 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,303,000 after purchasing an additional 225,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of TowneBank by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,344,673 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $147,980,000 after purchasing an additional 210,521 shares during the last quarter. 55.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

TowneBank Stock Down 2.5%

TowneBank stock opened at $33.25 on Friday. TowneBank has a 12-month low of $25.91 and a 12-month high of $38.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $33.40 and its 200 day moving average is $34.53. The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a PE ratio of 15.47 and a beta of 0.82.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.07. TowneBank had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The company had revenue of $190.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $191.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.48 EPS. TowneBank’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that TowneBank will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TowneBank Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 27th. This is an increase from TowneBank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. TowneBank’s payout ratio is presently 45.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on TOWN shares. Hovde Group upped their price objective on shares of TowneBank from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of TowneBank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th.

About TowneBank

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.