Azora Capital LP Purchases New Position in Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:AMTB)

Azora Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:AMTB - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 537,884 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,495,000. Azora Capital LP owned about 1.61% of Amerant Bancorp at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Amerant Bancorp by 9.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 864,437 shares of the company's stock worth $19,621,000 after purchasing an additional 72,028 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Amerant Bancorp by 7.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,974 shares of the company's stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,945,000. Foundry Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 157,935 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,375,000 after acquiring an additional 27,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,619,150 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,710,000 after acquiring an additional 10,835 shares during the last quarter. 42.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amerant Bancorp Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ AMTB traded up $0.43 on Monday, reaching $25.30. The company had a trading volume of 169,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 140,375. The firm has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.80 and a beta of 0.99. Amerant Bancorp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.54 and a fifty-two week high of $27.00. The business has a 50 day moving average of $22.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. Amerant Bancorp had a positive return on equity of 5.73% and a negative net margin of 8.38%. The firm had revenue of ($999.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.39 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. Analysts forecast that Amerant Bancorp Inc. will post 1.22 EPS for the current year.

Amerant Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Amerant Bancorp's payout ratio is currently -24.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMTB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Amerant Bancorp from $26.50 to $29.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James dropped their price target on Amerant Bancorp from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Stephens upgraded Amerant Bancorp from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $25.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $25.60.

Amerant Bancorp Company Profile

Amerant Bancorp Inc operates as the bank holding company for Amerant Bank, N.A. that provides banking products and services to individuals and businesses in the United States and internationally. It offers checking, savings, business, and money market accounts; cash management services; and certificates of deposits.