Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC Sells 4,098 Shares of TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC reduced its position in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 156,897 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,098 shares during the quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC owned 0.22% of TowneBank worth $4,669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in TowneBank by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,409,093 shares of the bank’s stock worth $169,891,000 after purchasing an additional 101,677 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of TowneBank by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,372,044 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,391,000 after purchasing an additional 678,368 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in TowneBank by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 752,382 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,252,000 after buying an additional 41,667 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in TowneBank by 41.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 265,062 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,888,000 after buying an additional 77,621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in TowneBank by 15.6% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 212,708 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,877,000 after acquiring an additional 28,667 shares in the last quarter. 55.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TowneBank Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TOWN traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $26.76. The stock had a trading volume of 29,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 242,395. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. TowneBank has a 1 year low of $21.22 and a 1 year high of $31.08. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a PE ratio of 13.22 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.20.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.48. The firm had revenue of $167.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.68 million. TowneBank had a net margin of 15.50% and a return on equity of 7.51%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that TowneBank will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TowneBank Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. TowneBank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on TOWN. StockNews.com cut shares of TowneBank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of TowneBank from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

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.