Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 206,874 Shares of Amerant Bancorp Inc. $AMTB

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB) by 9.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,424,944 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 206,874 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 5.88% of Amerant Bancorp worth $47,311,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMTB. Guerra Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of Amerant Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 153.4% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 2,874 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 11.8% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Amerant Bancorp in the second quarter worth $129,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Amerant Bancorp in the third quarter worth $143,000. Institutional investors own 42.11% of the company’s stock.

Amerant Bancorp Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE AMTB opened at $22.26 on Friday. Amerant Bancorp Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.62 and a 12 month high of $24.38. The stock has a market cap of $875.73 million, a P/E ratio of 15.78 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $22.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.01. Amerant Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.59% and a net margin of 8.83%.The firm had revenue of $97.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $102.56 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Amerant Bancorp Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Amerant Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Amerant Bancorp from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Amerant Bancorp in a report on Friday, March 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Amerant Bancorp from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Amerant Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.67.

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.