Waterstone Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: WSBF – Get a rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, June 23, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday July 11 will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the savings and loan company on Tuesday August 2. This represents an annualized dividend of $0.80 and a yield of 4.54%. The ex-date of this dividend is Friday, July 8.

Waterstone Financial has increased its dividend payout by an average of 22.5% per year over the past three years. Waterstone Financial has a payout ratio of 64.0%, which means its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Waterstone Financial to earn $1.25 per share next year, meaning the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with a ratio of expected future payout of 64.0%.

WSBF opened at $17.61 on Friday. The company has a debt ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.86 and its two-hundred-day simple moving average is $19.10. Waterstone Financial has a 1-year low of $15.70 and a 1-year high of $22.74. The company has a market capitalization of $426.16 million, a price-earnings ratio of 7.69 and a beta of 0.42.

Waterstone Financial (NASDAQ:WSBF – Get a rating) last reported results on Thursday, April 21. The savings and loan company reported earnings per share of $0.23 for the quarter, missing analyst consensus estimates of $0.30 per ($0.07). Waterstone Financial had a return on equity of 12.73% and a net margin of 22.46%. The company posted revenue of $41.68 million in the quarter, compared to $47.00 million expected by analysts. On average, stock analysts expect Waterstone Financial to post earnings per share of 1.19 for the current fiscal year.

Hedge funds have recently increased or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Waterstone Financial by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,113,021 shares of the savings and loan company valued at $21,526,000 after purchasing an additional 49,723 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Waterstone Financial by 24.2% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 639,670 shares of the savings and loan company valued at $12,371,000 after purchasing an additional 124,678 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Waterstone Financial by 2.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 192,692 shares of the savings and loan company valued at $3,726,000 after purchasing an additional 4,600 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Waterstone Financial by 27.9% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 102,043 shares of the savings and loan company valued at $1,974,000 after purchasing an additional 22,256 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Waterstone Financial in the first quarter, valued at approximately $1,100,000. 67.48% of the shares are currently held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Waterstone Financial shares from a “sell” to a “hold” rating in a Wednesday, May 18 research report.

About Waterstone Financial (Get a rating)

Waterstone Financial, Inc operates as a bank holding company for WaterStone Bank SSB which provides various financial services to customers in Southeast Wisconsin, USA. It operates in two segments, Community Banking and Mortgage Banking. The Community Banking segment offers personal and corporate banking products and services, such as deposit and transaction solutions, including checking accounts, online banking and bill payment services, money transfer services , as well as credit, debit and prepaid cards; investable fund solutions including savings, money market deposits, individual retirement accounts and certificates of deposit; residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, personal and installment loans, real estate financing, business loans and business lines of credit; and fixed and variable annuities, insurance products, and trust and investment management accounts.

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