Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.56 (NASDAQ:WASH)

Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:WASH) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 19th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.56 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.28%.

Washington Trust Bancorp has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Washington Trust Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 81.5% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Equities analysts expect Washington Trust Bancorp to earn $2.60 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 86.2%.

Washington Trust Bancorp Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Washington Trust Bancorp stock traded down $0.18 on Thursday, hitting $30.76. 489,097 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 107,458. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.63, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Washington Trust Bancorp has a one year low of $24.11 and a one year high of $40.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $524.92 million, a PE ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $35.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.73.

Washington Trust Bancorp (NASDAQ:WASH) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.08. Washington Trust Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.55% and a net margin of 11.24%. The business had revenue of $103.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Washington Trust Bancorp will post 2.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler raised shares of Washington Trust Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Washington Trust Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Washington Trust Bancorp Company Profile

Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for The Washington Trust Company, of Westerly that provides various banking and financial services to individuals and businesses. The company operates in two segments, Commercial Banking and Wealth Management Services. The Commercial Banking segment offers deposit accounts, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing demand deposits, NOW and savings accounts, money market and retirement deposit accounts, and time deposits; various commercial and retail lending products, such as commercial real estate loans, including commercial mortgages, and construction and development loans; commercial and industrial loans comprising working capital, equipment financing, and financing for other business-related purposes; residential real estate loans that consist of mortgage and homeowner construction loans; and consumer loans comprising home equity loans and lines of credit, personal installment loans, and loans to individuals secured by general aviation aircraft.