Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBMT) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.14 Per Share

Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBMT) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.1425 per share by the bank on Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Eagle Bancorp Montana’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14.

Eagle Bancorp Montana has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Eagle Bancorp Montana has a payout ratio of 33.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Eagle Bancorp Montana to earn $1.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.57 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.2%.

Eagle Bancorp Montana Stock Performance

Eagle Bancorp Montana stock opened at $15.25 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $15.85 and a 200-day moving average of $15.53. The company has a market capitalization of $122.31 million, a P/E ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 0.53. Eagle Bancorp Montana has a 1 year low of $12.32 and a 1 year high of $17.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Eagle Bancorp Montana (NASDAQ:EBMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.15. Eagle Bancorp Montana had a net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 5.68%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Eagle Bancorp Montana will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Peter Joseph Johnson sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.97, for a total value of $84,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 57,838 shares in the company, valued at $981,510.86. This trade represents a 7.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Eagle Bancorp Montana from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Eagle Bancorp Montana Company Profile

Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Opportunity Bank of Montana that provides various retail banking products and services to small businesses and individuals in Montana. It accepts various deposit products, such as checking, savings, money market, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit accounts.