Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AMTB. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Amerant Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amerant Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.67.

Amerant Bancorp Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of AMTB opened at $25.81 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.87. Amerant Bancorp has a 52-week low of $15.62 and a 52-week high of $26.66. The firm has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.31 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s fifty day moving average is $24.08 and its 200-day moving average is $22.79.

Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $98.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.64 million. Amerant Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.59% and a net margin of 8.83%. Equities analysts anticipate that Amerant Bancorp will post 1.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amerant Bancorp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. bought a new position in Amerant Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,621,000. North Reef Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Amerant Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,577,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 756.2% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 437,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,437,000 after acquiring an additional 386,710 shares during the last quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in Amerant Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,153,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Amerant Bancorp by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,424,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,311,000 after acquiring an additional 206,874 shares during the period. 42.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Amerant Bancorp

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.