Janus Henderson Group PLC Acquires 607,768 Shares of Towne Bank $TOWN

Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 86.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,314,373 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 607,768 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 1.66% of Towne Bank worth $44,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Towne Bank Price Performance

TOWN opened at $37.91 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 0.69. Towne Bank has a 12 month low of $31.91 and a 12 month high of $39.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.15.

Towne Bank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.78 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $245.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.33 million. On average, research analysts expect that Towne Bank will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Towne Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 26th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 26th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is a boost from Towne Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Towne Bank’s payout ratio is presently 31.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on TOWN. Weiss Ratings raised Towne Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research raised Towne Bank from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $38.00 target price (down from $42.00) on shares of Towne Bank in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Hovde Group decreased their target price on Towne Bank from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.50.

About Towne Bank

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.