West Bancorporation, Inc. (NASDAQ:WTBA) Announces $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

West Bancorporation, Inc. (NASDAQ:WTBA) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 24th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.66%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th.

West Bancorporation has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.1% per year over the last three years. West Bancorporation has a dividend payout ratio of 45.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect West Bancorporation to earn $1.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.1%.

West Bancorporation Price Performance

WTBA stock traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $21.46. The stock had a trading volume of 27,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,642. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $361.17 million, a P/E ratio of 16.77 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. West Bancorporation has a 52 week low of $15.80 and a 52 week high of $24.85.

West Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WTBA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.02. West Bancorporation had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 11.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that West Bancorporation will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Douglas R. Gulling sold 4,000 shares of West Bancorporation stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.61, for a total transaction of $94,440.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 80,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,905,539.49. The trade was a 4.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 4.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of West Bancorporation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of West Bancorporation from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

West Bancorporation Company Profile

West Bancorporation, Inc operates as the financial holding company provides community banking and trust services to individuals and small- to medium-sized businesses in the United States. It offers deposit services, including checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time certificates of deposit.