Short Interest in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) Rises By 33.5%

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 888,800 shares, an increase of 33.5% from the February 13th total of 665,900 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 230,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TOWN. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of TowneBank during the third quarter worth about $312,000. KBC Group NV acquired a new position in shares of TowneBank during the third quarter worth about $100,000. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of TowneBank during the third quarter worth about $222,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of TowneBank by 6.2% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 225,242 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,446,000 after purchasing an additional 13,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank lifted its stake in shares of TowneBank by 1.6% during the third quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 50,929 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,684,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of TowneBank in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

TowneBank Trading Up 2.3 %

TOWN stock opened at $34.53 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.79. TowneBank has a 12-month low of $25.70 and a 12-month high of $38.28. The company has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a PE ratio of 16.06 and a beta of 0.88.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.07. TowneBank had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 15.77%. Equities analysts forecast that TowneBank will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TowneBank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. TowneBank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.51%.

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.