Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) Increases Dividend to $0.22 Per Share

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 18th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of 0.2213 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, January 20th. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This is an increase from Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.8% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a payout ratio of 47.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Farmers & Merchants Bancorp to earn $1.85 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.89 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.1%.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of FMAO traded down $2.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $29.52. The company had a trading volume of 16,750 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,207. The stock has a market capitalization of $404.39 million, a P/E ratio of 17.36 and a beta of 0.68. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a 52-week low of $18.99 and a 52-week high of $34.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $30.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:FMAO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.08. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp had a net margin of 13.16% and a return on equity of 7.16%. The business had revenue of $45.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.93 million. On average, analysts expect that Farmers & Merchants Bancorp will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

About Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for The Farmers & Merchants State Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals and small businesses in Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana. The company offers checking, savings, and time deposit accounts; certificates of deposit; and custodial services for individual retirement and health savings accounts.