Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) Cut to “Neutral” at Janney Montgomery Scott

Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $25.00 target price on the stock.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Amerant Bancorp from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $25.60.

Amerant Bancorp Trading Down 7.3 %

Amerant Bancorp stock opened at $22.49 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.50. Amerant Bancorp has a 52 week low of $16.63 and a 52 week high of $27.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $758.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.07 and a beta of 1.01.

Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.07). Amerant Bancorp had a return on equity of 7.79% and a net margin of 3.51%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Amerant Bancorp will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amerant Bancorp

In other Amerant Bancorp news, COO Carlos Iafigliola sold 10,579 shares of Amerant Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.62, for a total transaction of $239,296.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 9,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,317.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Armando Fleitas sold 6,240 shares of Amerant Bancorp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.59, for a total value of $140,961.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $126,368.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Carlos Iafigliola sold 10,579 shares of Amerant Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.62, for a total transaction of $239,296.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,317.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 13.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amerant Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 156,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,546,000 after purchasing an additional 21,318 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at $199,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,619,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,710,000 after acquiring an additional 10,835 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 89.8% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 6,261 shares during the period. Finally, Salzhauer Michael raised its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 24,988 shares of the company’s stock worth $582,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.11% of the company’s stock.

Amerant Bancorp Company Profile

Amerant Bancorp Inc operates as the bank holding company for Amerant Bank, N.A. that provides banking products and services to individuals and businesses in the United States and internationally. It offers checking, savings, business, and money market accounts; cash management services; and certificates of deposits.