Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) Declares $0.44 Quarterly Dividend

Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.44 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd.

Westamerica Bancorporation has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Westamerica Bancorporation has a dividend payout ratio of 37.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Westamerica Bancorporation to earn $4.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.8%.

Westamerica Bancorporation Price Performance

WABC stock opened at $47.44 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $47.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.11. Westamerica Bancorporation has a fifty-two week low of $35.52 and a fifty-two week high of $57.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.01 and a beta of 0.56.

Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.02). Westamerica Bancorporation had a net margin of 48.35% and a return on equity of 21.99%. The business had revenue of $78.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.34 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Westamerica Bancorporation will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John A. Thorson sold 1,100 shares of Westamerica Bancorporation stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction of $51,964.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO John A. Thorson sold 1,100 shares of Westamerica Bancorporation stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.24, for a total transaction of $51,964.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David L. Payne sold 10,000 shares of Westamerica Bancorporation stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total value of $495,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 268,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,302,792.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,372 shares of company stock valued at $1,074,481. Company insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Westamerica Bancorporation from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com cut Westamerica Bancorporation from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price (down from $58.00) on shares of Westamerica Bancorporation in a research note on Monday, April 22nd.

Westamerica Bancorporation Company Profile

Westamerica Bancorporation operates as a bank holding company for the Westamerica Bank that provides various banking products and services to individual and commercial customers. The company accepts various deposit products, including retail savings and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.