De Lisle Partners LLP Invests $5.23 Million in Towne Bank $TOWN

De Lisle Partners LLP acquired a new position in Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 144,341 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $5,233,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Towne Bank by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,082,514 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $269,713,000 after buying an additional 443,345 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Towne Bank by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,399,012 shares of the bank’s stock worth $148,114,000 after buying an additional 59,267 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Towne Bank by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,138,398 shares of the bank’s stock worth $71,931,000 after buying an additional 21,482 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Towne Bank by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,811,213 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,448,000 after acquiring an additional 12,672 shares during the period. Finally, Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. bought a new stake in Towne Bank during the first quarter valued at about $51,116,000. 55.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Towne Bank Stock Performance

TOWN opened at $37.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.69 and a 200 day moving average of $35.38. Towne Bank has a fifty-two week low of $31.91 and a fifty-two week high of $39.03.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.01). Towne Bank had a return on equity of 9.99% and a net margin of 25.64%.The company had revenue of $245.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $245.33 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Towne Bank will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on TOWN. Weiss Ratings raised Towne Bank from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $38.00 target price (down from $42.00) on shares of Towne Bank in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Hovde Group lowered their price target on Towne Bank from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Towne Bank from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.50.

Towne Bank Profile

TowneBank is a Virginia‐based financial services company organized as a bank holding company. Its primary subsidiary, TowneBank, operates a network of community banking offices and mortgage production facilities. The company offers a comprehensive range of commercial and consumer banking solutions, including deposit accounts, lending products, treasury management, and private banking services tailored to individuals, small businesses, and middle‐market corporations.

In addition to traditional banking, TowneBank provides specialty services through affiliated subsidiaries.