Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning.

WABC has been the subject of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Westamerica Bancorporation from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Westamerica Bancorporation from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 19th.

Westamerica Bancorporation Trading Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ WABC opened at $46.78 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.98. Westamerica Bancorporation has a 12-month low of $35.52 and a 12-month high of $57.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.72 and a beta of 0.56.

Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.02). Westamerica Bancorporation had a return on equity of 23.61% and a net margin of 49.39%. The company had revenue of $78.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.34 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Westamerica Bancorporation will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westamerica Bancorporation Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Investors of record on Monday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. Westamerica Bancorporation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.04%.

Insider Activity at Westamerica Bancorporation

In related news, CEO David L. Payne sold 8,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total transaction of $444,691.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 333,689 shares in the company, valued at $17,001,454.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO David L. Payne sold 8,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total transaction of $444,691.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 333,689 shares in the company, valued at $17,001,454.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David L. Payne sold 11,272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.79, for a total transaction of $527,416.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 242,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,342,691.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,000 shares of company stock worth $2,213,458 over the last three months. Company insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Westamerica Bancorporation by 248.3% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,235 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Group acquired a new position in shares of Westamerica Bancorporation in the fourth quarter worth about $397,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Westamerica Bancorporation by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 53,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,033,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Westamerica Bancorporation in the fourth quarter worth about $654,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Westamerica Bancorporation by 39.6% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,151,000 after acquiring an additional 15,858 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.89% of the company’s stock.

About Westamerica Bancorporation

Westamerica Bancorporation operates as a bank holding company for the Westamerica Bank that provides various banking products and services to individual and commercial customers. The company accepts various deposit products, including retail savings and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.