Arbor Investment Advisors LLC Takes Position in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Arbor Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 17,462 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $577,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TOWN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of TowneBank in the 1st quarter worth about $4,907,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,269,588 shares of the bank's stock worth $116,431,000 after purchasing an additional 119,459 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 92.5% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 181,730 shares of the bank's stock worth $5,099,000 after purchasing an additional 87,332 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 315.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 95,407 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,602,000 after purchasing an additional 72,464 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 5,296,900.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 52,970 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 52,969 shares in the last quarter. 55.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded TowneBank from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded TowneBank from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $35.00 to $40.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

TowneBank Price Performance

TOWN stock traded up $0.57 on Monday, reaching $33.10. 227,018 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 250,945. TowneBank has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $35.74. The company has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.63 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.25.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $258.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.80 million. TowneBank had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 14.89%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that TowneBank will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

TowneBank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. TowneBank's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.25%.

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.