Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $24.50 and last traded at $24.3140, with a volume of 4611 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $23.81.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AMTB. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amerant Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.67.

Amerant Bancorp Trading Up 0.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $961.12 million, a PE ratio of 17.30 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $23.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.94.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $177.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.56 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Amerant Bancorp Inc. will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 25.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AMTB. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 110.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 22,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $499,000 after buying an additional 11,900 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Amerant Bancorp by 149.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 1,511 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 3.4% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 164,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,631,000 after acquiring an additional 5,492 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 45.3% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 55,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after acquiring an additional 17,201 shares during the period. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $25,577,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.