Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) Downgraded to “Equal Weight” Rating by Stephens

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) was downgraded by analysts at Stephens from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $32.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 10.30% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on AMTB. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Amerant Bancorp from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.75.

Amerant Bancorp Price Performance

AMTB opened at $29.01 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $25.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.60. Amerant Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $15.62 and a fifty-two week high of $30.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87 and a beta of 0.87.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.14. Amerant Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.30% and a net margin of 8.76%.The company had revenue of $183.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.64 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amerant Bancorp will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amerant Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Amerant Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,621,000. North Reef Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Amerant Bancorp during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,577,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Amerant Bancorp by 756.2% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 437,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,437,000 after purchasing an additional 386,710 shares during the last quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in Amerant Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,153,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,424,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,311,000 after buying an additional 206,874 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.11% of the company’s stock.

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.