Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSEAMERICAN:BHB) Increases Dividend to $0.30 Per Share

Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSEAMERICAN:BHB) announced a dividend on Thursday, April 18th, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.30 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, June 14th. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Bar Harbor Bankshares’s previous dividend of $0.22.

Bar Harbor Bankshares has raised its dividend by an average of 7.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. Bar Harbor Bankshares has a dividend payout ratio of 40.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Bar Harbor Bankshares to earn $2.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 39.6%.

Bar Harbor Bankshares Stock Up 6.8 %

NYSEAMERICAN BHB traded up $1.62 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $25.48. 44,136 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 33,781. Bar Harbor Bankshares has a 52-week low of $19.55 and a 52-week high of $30.37. The stock has a market cap of $387.04 million, a PE ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSEAMERICAN:BHB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $36.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.10 million. Bar Harbor Bankshares had a net margin of 21.36% and a return on equity of 10.92%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bar Harbor Bankshares will post 2.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bar Harbor Bankshares

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Bar Harbor Bankshares by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,359,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,964,000 after purchasing an additional 5,281 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Bar Harbor Bankshares by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,160,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,601,000 after purchasing an additional 19,147 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Bar Harbor Bankshares by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 758,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,274,000 after purchasing an additional 24,433 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Bar Harbor Bankshares by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 749,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,456,000 after buying an additional 22,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Bar Harbor Bankshares by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 452,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,937,000 after buying an additional 28,851 shares during the last quarter. 54.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, TheStreet lowered shares of Bar Harbor Bankshares from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th.

About Bar Harbor Bankshares

Bar Harbor Bankshares operates as the holding company for Bar Harbor Bank & Trust that provides banking and nonbanking products and services primarily to consumers and businesses. It accepts various deposit products, including interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing demand accounts, savings accounts, time deposits, and money market deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.