Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Free Report) by 30.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 184,376 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 42,641 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of TowneBank worth $5,028,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TOWN. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in TowneBank by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 22,006 shares of the bank's stock worth $655,000 after buying an additional 1,948 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of TowneBank during the fourth quarter valued at about $10,851,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in TowneBank by 26.1% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 22,580 shares of the bank's stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 4,676 shares during the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in TowneBank by 43,600.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,311 shares of the bank's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in TowneBank by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 47,933 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,426,000 after buying an additional 12,724 shares during the last quarter. 55.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TOWN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on TowneBank from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com upgraded TowneBank from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th.

TowneBank Stock Down 0.1 %

TowneBank stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $32.93. The stock had a trading volume of 112,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 257,427. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.40 and a beta of 0.89. TowneBank has a 12 month low of $21.63 and a 12 month high of $35.10. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $33.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.22.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $174.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.20 million. TowneBank had a net margin of 15.33% and a return on equity of 7.56%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that TowneBank will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

TowneBank Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.04%. TowneBank's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.75%.

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.