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

West Bancorporation, Inc. (NASDAQ:WTBA) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.66%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th.

West Bancorporation has raised its dividend 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 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 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WTBA traded up $0.23 on Friday, reaching $21.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 27,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,657. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. West Bancorporation has a 52-week low of $15.80 and a 52-week high of $24.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $22.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $361.17 million, a P/E ratio of 16.77 and a beta of 0.98.

West Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WTBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that West Bancorporation will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTBA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on West Bancorporation from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised West Bancorporation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th.

About West Bancorporation

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.