Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBMT) Increases Dividend to $0.14 Per Share

Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBMT) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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% per year 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 $1.57 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 36.3%.

Eagle Bancorp Montana Stock Performance

Eagle Bancorp Montana stock traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $15.00. 17,881 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,418. 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 quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $120.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.89 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.54.

Eagle Bancorp Montana (NASDAQ:EBMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.15. Eagle Bancorp Montana had a return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 7.03%. On average, analysts expect that Eagle Bancorp Montana will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eagle Bancorp Montana

In related news, Director Peter Joseph Johnson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.97, for a total value of $84,850.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 57,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $981,510.86. The trade was a 7.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth M. Walsh sold 6,705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.44, for a total transaction of $110,230.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 141,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,318,582.52. This represents a 4.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,795 shares of company stock worth $213,610 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut Eagle Bancorp Montana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th.

About Eagle Bancorp Montana

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.