HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 741 Shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 741 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida were worth $261,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SBCF. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 29,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $800,000 after purchasing an additional 6,620 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida during the fourth quarter valued at $582,000. Amundi increased its holdings in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 184.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 42,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,123,000 after buying an additional 27,478 shares in the last quarter. Inceptionr LLC purchased a new position in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida in the 4th quarter worth about $200,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,850,000. 81.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target (up from $29.00) on shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.00.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida Stock Up 1.2 %

SBCF opened at $25.80 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.66. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of 18.04 and a beta of 1.09. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has a 1-year low of $21.90 and a 1-year high of $31.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.15. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida had a return on equity of 5.91% and a net margin of 14.95%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida’s payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

About Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of integrated financial services. It provides banking and investment services to businesses and consumers, including personal and business deposit products, Internet and mobile banking, personal, commercial and mortgage loans, wealth management services, and treasury management solutions.