American Century Companies Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF - Free Report) by 9.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 186,031 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 16,372 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.22% of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida worth $5,121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 7.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 849,811 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $22,647,000 after purchasing an additional 56,897 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 57.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,382 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 1,960 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 97.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 34,238 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $912,000 after buying an additional 16,930 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida in the third quarter valued at about $230,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,239,308 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $112,978,000 after acquiring an additional 28,066 shares during the period. 81.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on SBCF. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 target price (up previously from $29.00) on shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.00.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida Stock Up 6.2 %

Shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida stock traded up $1.38 on Wednesday, reaching $23.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,094,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 422,874. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $26.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.44. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has a 1 year low of $21.46 and a 1 year high of $32.20.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.15. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida had a net margin of 14.95% and a return on equity of 5.91%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's dividend payout ratio is presently 50.35%.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida Company Profile

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of integrated financial services. It provides banking and investment services to businesses and consumers, including personal and business deposit products, Internet and mobile banking, personal, commercial and mortgage loans, wealth management services, and treasury management solutions.