Janney upgrades Bank of Marin to Buy, sees opportunity for near-term catalyst

Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Timothy Coffey upgraded Bank of Marin to Buy from Neutral with an unchanged fair value estimate of $35 per share, which the firm notes is about 20% higher than the most recent closing price. The stock is down about 7% on above average daily trading volume since the bank reported "consensus beating" Q4 EPS in late January, noted the firm, which sees the opportunity for "a near-term catalyst." Namely, the firm notes that two shareholders who collectively own about 1.1M shares, or 6.8% of total shares outstanding, have indicated in the past an interest in disposing their shares and Janney thinks the bank’s management could engage the pair to discuss buying the shareholders’ stock.