Bank of New York Mellon Corp Grows Stake in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) by 19.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 537,845 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 88,277 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in TowneBank were worth $18,319,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of TowneBank in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 258.5% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,434 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of TowneBank in the 3rd quarter valued at $73,000. KBC Group NV purchased a new position in shares of TowneBank in the 3rd quarter valued at $100,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of TowneBank by 137.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,882 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $161,000 after acquiring an additional 2,829 shares during the period. 55.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TowneBank Stock Performance

NASDAQ TOWN opened at $33.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70 and a beta of 0.88. TowneBank has a fifty-two week low of $25.70 and a fifty-two week high of $38.28.

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.07. TowneBank had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 15.77%. As a group, analysts forecast that TowneBank will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

TowneBank Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. TowneBank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $41.00 price target on shares of TowneBank in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

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.