Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) Shares Purchased by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,077,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,818 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida were worth $29,661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SBCF. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $318,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 41,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,143,000 after purchasing an additional 6,670 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC acquired a new position in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida in the fourth quarter valued at $287,000. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 167,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,620,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 9,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares during the period. 81.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SBCF opened at $25.95 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.15 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has a fifty-two week low of $21.90 and a fifty-two week high of $31.68.

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

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida’s payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida Profile

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.