Amerant Bancorp Inc. $AMTB Shares Sold by Maltese Capital Management LLC

Maltese Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 967,318 shares of the company’s stock after selling 75,286 shares during the quarter. Amerant Bancorp accounts for approximately 2.8% of Maltese Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Maltese Capital Management LLC owned 2.34% of Amerant Bancorp worth $18,640,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMTB. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,621,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 756.2% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 437,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,437,000 after purchasing an additional 386,710 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 171.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 222,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,296,000 after purchasing an additional 140,833 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Amerant Bancorp by 117.4% during the third quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 250,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,824,000 after purchasing an additional 135,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 2.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,218,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,742,000 after purchasing an additional 61,504 shares during the last quarter. 42.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Amerant Bancorp from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Amerant Bancorp from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 1st. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Amerant Bancorp from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Amerant Bancorp in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

Amerant Bancorp Stock Up 1.1%

AMTB opened at $20.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $862.38 million, a P/E ratio of 16.72 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.04. Amerant Bancorp Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.62 and a 52 week high of $23.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.10. Amerant Bancorp had a net margin of 7.75% and a return on equity of 7.78%. The firm had revenue of $230.71 million during the quarter.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Odilon Almeida bought 4,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $20.99 per share, with a total value of $101,087.84. Following the purchase, the director owned 5,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,582.84. The trade was a 963.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 5.37% of the company’s stock.

About Amerant Bancorp

Amerant Bancorp is the bank holding company and parent of Amerant Bank, a community-oriented financial institution headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida. Amerant Bank delivers a comprehensive range of deposit and lending products to both retail and commercial clients, including checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, consumer mortgages, and business lines of credit. In addition, the company offers specialized services such as treasury management, international trade finance, foreign exchange, and asset-based lending to support the complex needs of corporate and high-net-worth customers.

Tracing its roots to the early 1980s, Amerant has grown through a combination of strategic acquisitions and organic expansion.