How to buy TowneBank stock | 18.05

TowneBank is a banks—regional business based in the US. TowneBank shares (TOWN) are listed on the NASDAQ and all prices are listed in US Dollars. TowneBank employs 2,460 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$546.8 million.

How to buy shares in TowneBank

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for TowneBank. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: TOWN. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until TowneBank reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$18.05, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of TowneBank, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of TowneBank. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted TowneBank's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, TowneBank's share price has had significant negative movement.

Its last market close was USD$18.05, which is 34.34% down on its pre-crash value of USD$27.49 and 20.09% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$15.03.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of TowneBank shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$582.24 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$671.10.

TowneBank share price

Use our graph to track the performance of TOWN stocks over time.

TowneBank shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-10-14.

Latest market close	USD$18.05
52-week range	USD$15.36 - USD$29.02
50-day moving average	USD$17.3226
200-day moving average	USD$18.1413
Wall St. target price	USD$20.33
PE ratio	10.0815
Dividend yield	USD$0.72 (3.98%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$1.84

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Is it a good time to buy TowneBank stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of TowneBank by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

TowneBank price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $18.05 from 2020-10-16

1 week (2020-10-23)	-4.29%
1 month (2020-10-01)	9.13%
3 months (2020-07-31)	2.32%
6 months (2020-05-01)	-6.23%

1 year (2019-10-31)	-35.74%
2 years (2018-10-31)	-35.83%
3 years (2017-10-31)	-46.12%
5 years (2015-10-30)	-15.89%

Is TowneBank under- or over-valued?

Valuing TowneBank stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of TowneBank's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

TowneBank's P/E ratio

TowneBank's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 10x. In other words, TowneBank shares trade at around 10x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

TowneBank financials

Revenue TTM	USD$546.8 million
Operating margin TTM	33.16%
Gross profit TTM	USD$554.6 million
Return on assets TTM	1.02%
Return on equity TTM	8.42%
Profit margin	24.45%
Book value	$23.791
Market capitalisation	USD$1.3 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting TowneBank shares

There are currently 616,669 TowneBank shares held short by investors – that's known as TowneBank's "short interest". This figure is 20.3% down from 773,498 last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting TowneBank shares can be evaluated.

TowneBank's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

TowneBank's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of TowneBank shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of TowneBank shares traded daily (recently around 252733.19672131). TowneBank's SIR currently stands at 2.44. In other words for every 100,000 TowneBank shares traded daily on the market, roughly 2440 shares are currently held short.

However TowneBank's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of TowneBank shares, or, against the total number of tradable TowneBank shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case TowneBank's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 TowneBank shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable TowneBank shares, roughly 0 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against TowneBank.

Find out more about how you can short TowneBank stock.

TowneBank share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 38.92% of net profits

Recently TowneBank has paid out, on average, around 38.92% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 3.98% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), TowneBank shareholders could enjoy a 3.98% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In TowneBank's case, that would currently equate to about $0.72 per share.

While TowneBank's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that TowneBank may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

TowneBank's most recent dividend payout was on 9 October 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 29 September 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have TowneBank's shares ever split?

TowneBank's shares were split on a 103:100 basis on 23 May 2012. So if you had owned 100 shares the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 103 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your TowneBank shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 2.9% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for TowneBank shares which in turn could have impacted TowneBank's share price.

TowneBank share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, TowneBank's shares have ranged in value from as little as $15.36 up to $29.02. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while TowneBank's is 1.1969. This would suggest that TowneBank's shares are a little bit more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a slightly higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

TowneBank overview

TowneBank provides retail and commercial banking services for individuals, professionals, and commercial enterprises. The company operates in three segments: Banking, Realty, and Insurance. It accepts various deposits products, including demand deposits, savings accounts, money rate savings, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company also offers secured and unsecured personal loans for financing automobiles, home improvements, education, and personal investments; commercial loans for working capital, business expansion, and equipment and machinery purchases; and mortgage loans, as well as real estate acquisition, development, and construction loans. In addition, it provides other services, such as safe deposit boxes, treasury management services, direct deposit of payroll and social security checks, and automatic drafts for various accounts, as well as online, mobile, and on-call banking services. Further, the company offers documentation services to accomplish tax deferral to investors; investment and asset management services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; and other financial services, such as financial, retirement, and estate planning services, as well as assistance on various investment options, such as alternative investments, annuities, margin accounts, convertible bonds, and pension and profit sharing plans. Additionally, it provides residential real estate, relocation, property management, vacations rental, and title and settlement services; and originates residential mortgage loans. The company offers life, property, casualty, travel, and vehicle insurance services; medical, and baggage protection insurance for travelers; and employee benefit programs, such as health, dental, vision, and disability insurance. It operates 42 banking offices in Virginia and North Carolina. TowneBank was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Portsmouth, Virginia.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of TowneBank is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 9.584% of TowneBank shares are held by insiders and 49.557% by institutions.

• How many people work for TowneBank?

  Latest data suggests 2,460 work at TowneBank.

• When does the fiscal year end for TowneBank?

  TowneBank's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is TowneBank based?

  TowneBank's address is: 5716 High Street, Portsmouth, VA, United States, 23703

• What is TowneBank's ISIN number?

  TowneBank's international securities identification number is: US89214P1093

• What is TowneBank's CUSIP number?

  TowneBank's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 89214P109