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

Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBMT) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.1425 per share by the bank on Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Eagle Bancorp Montana’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14.

Eagle Bancorp Montana has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Eagle Bancorp Montana has a dividend payout ratio of 33.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Eagle Bancorp Montana to earn $1.73 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 32.9%.

Eagle Bancorp Montana Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana stock opened at $15.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $123.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.60. Eagle Bancorp Montana has a 52-week low of $12.32 and a 52-week 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 expect that Eagle Bancorp Montana will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kenneth M. Walsh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.11, for a total transaction of $151,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 126,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,904,358.63. This represents a 7.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Peter Joseph Johnson sold 5,000 shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.97, for a total transaction of $84,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 57,838 shares in the company, valued at $981,510.86. This trade represents a 7.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.