Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.44

Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 25th, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th will be given a dividend of 0.44 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, August 16th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 5th.

Westamerica Bancorporation has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 32 consecutive years. Westamerica Bancorporation has a payout ratio of 39.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Westamerica Bancorporation to earn $4.45 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 39.6%.

Westamerica Bancorporation Price Performance

NASDAQ:WABC opened at $50.68 on Friday. Westamerica Bancorporation has a 52-week low of $41.89 and a 52-week high of $58.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.25. The company has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.56 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.43.

Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.03. Westamerica Bancorporation had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 47.12%. The business had revenue of $79.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.28 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Westamerica Bancorporation will post 5.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WABC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Westamerica Bancorporation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Westamerica Bancorporation from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Maxim Group cut Westamerica Bancorporation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective (down previously from $58.00) on shares of Westamerica Bancorporation in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Westamerica Bancorporation presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.00.

About Westamerica Bancorporation

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.