Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) Shares Gap Up on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Shares of Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:AMTB) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $20.27, but opened at $21.26. Amerant Bancorp shares last traded at $20.57, with a volume of 4,549 shares traded.

The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. The company had revenue of ($999.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.39 million. Amerant Bancorp had a return on equity of 7.78% and a net margin of 3.15%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share.

Amerant Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th 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 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AMTB shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Amerant Bancorp from $26.50 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Amerant Bancorp from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Amerant Bancorp from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.60.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amerant Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMTB. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 6,261 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 10,835 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Amerant Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth about $199,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in 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 worth $3,546,000 after purchasing an additional 21,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Amerant Bancorp by 30.1% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,197 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.11% of the company’s stock.

Amerant Bancorp Trading Up 1.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.78. The company has a market cap of $703.99 million, a PE ratio of 30.71 and a beta of 0.99.

About Amerant Bancorp

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.