Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Shares of Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:AMTB) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $26.37, but opened at $23.86. Amerant Bancorp shares last traded at $25.02, with a volume of 13,134 shares trading hands.

The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.07). Amerant Bancorp had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 3.51%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.24 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AMTB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Amerant Bancorp from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Amerant Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amerant Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amerant Bancorp news, CAO Armando Fleitas sold 6,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.59, for a total transaction of $140,961.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,368.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Amerant Bancorp news, CAO Armando Fleitas sold 6,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.59, for a total transaction of $140,961.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,368.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Carlos Iafigliola sold 10,579 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.62, for a total transaction of $239,296.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 9,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $225,317.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 13.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Amerant Bancorp in the second quarter worth about $199,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Amerant Bancorp by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,619,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,710,000 after purchasing an additional 10,835 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Amerant Bancorp by 89.8% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 6,261 shares during the last quarter. Salzhauer Michael lifted its stake in Amerant Bancorp by 66.7% during the first quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 24,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Amerant Bancorp by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,113,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,498,000 after buying an additional 267,466 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.11% of the company’s stock.

Amerant Bancorp Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.52. The stock has a market cap of $830.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.79 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

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.