Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Free Report) by 234.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,980 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 25,219 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.'s holdings in TowneBank were worth $1,225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in TowneBank by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 88,252 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,006,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of TowneBank in the fourth quarter worth $22,894,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of TowneBank by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 22,901 shares of the bank's stock valued at $780,000 after acquiring an additional 4,339 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of TowneBank by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 12,383 shares of the bank's stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 2,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in TowneBank during the 4th quarter worth about $6,385,000. 55.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on TOWN. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $41.00 target price on shares of TowneBank in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Hovde Group raised shares of TowneBank from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, April 4th.

TowneBank Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ TOWN traded up $0.31 on Friday, reaching $31.80. 279,521 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 258,846. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a PE ratio of 14.79 and a beta of 0.79. TowneBank has a fifty-two week low of $25.70 and a fifty-two week high of $38.28. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.19 and a 200 day moving average of $34.63.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.07. TowneBank had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 7.77%. As a group, research analysts expect that TowneBank will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

TowneBank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. TowneBank's payout ratio is currently 46.51%.

TowneBank Profile

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.