Short Interest in Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB) Expands By 35.5%

Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE:AMTB) saw a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,228,319 shares, a growth of 35.5% from the February 26th total of 906,667 shares. Currently, 3.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 313,812 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Odilon Almeida purchased 4,816 shares of Amerant Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.99 per share, for a total transaction of $101,087.84. Following the acquisition, the director owned 5,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,582.84. The trade was a 963.20% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.37% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amerant Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AMTB. Guerra Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Amerant Bancorp during the third quarter valued at $32,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in Amerant Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $78,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 153.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 2,874 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Amerant Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $129,000. Institutional investors own 42.11% of the company’s stock.

Amerant Bancorp Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Amerant Bancorp stock traded up $0.21 during trading on Monday, hitting $21.69. The stock had a trading volume of 207,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 279,051. Amerant Bancorp has a 12 month low of $15.62 and a 12 month high of $23.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.03. The stock has a market cap of $872.55 million, a PE ratio of 17.35 and a beta of 1.00.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $230.71 million for the quarter. Amerant Bancorp had a net margin of 7.75% and a return on equity of 7.78%.

Amerant Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. Amerant Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Amerant Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 1st. Zacks Research raised Amerant Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on Amerant Bancorp from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Amerant Bancorp from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Amerant Bancorp from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amerant Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.75.

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.