Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) Shares Gap Down to $20.84

Shares of Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:AMTB) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $20.84, but opened at $19.32. Amerant Bancorp shares last traded at $19.76, with a volume of 221,237 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AMTB. Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Amerant Bancorp from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.20.

Amerant Bancorp Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.05. The firm has a market cap of $691.52 million, a PE ratio of 30.16 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $98.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.19 million. Amerant Bancorp had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 7.78%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Amerant Bancorp Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amerant Bancorp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMTB. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Amerant Bancorp by 30.1% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,197 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Amerant Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $199,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Amerant Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $250,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Amerant Bancorp by 23.9% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,998 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 2,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Amerant Bancorp during the second quarter worth $281,000. Institutional investors 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.