Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Sell”

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on AMTB. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Amerant Bancorp from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Amerant Bancorp from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Amerant Bancorp in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.67.

Amerant Bancorp Stock Up 0.1%

Amerant Bancorp stock opened at $23.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $941.58 million, a P/E ratio of 16.60 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Amerant Bancorp has a twelve month low of $15.62 and a twelve month high of $24.38. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.73.

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

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.53%.

Institutional Trading of Amerant Bancorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Guerra Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $78,000. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 153.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 2,874 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $129,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.11% of the company’s stock.

Amerant Bancorp Company Profile

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.