First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.01

Key Points

• First Guaranty Bancshares declared a quarterly dividend of $0.01 per share, payable September 30 to shareholders of record September 25. The payment equates to a $0.04 annual dividend and an approximately 0.5% yield.
• The dividend appears well covered, with a current payout ratio of 4.4% and an expected future payout ratio of 6.2%, although the company has reduced its dividend by an average of 0.4% annually over the past three years.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: one analyst rates the stock Hold and another Sell, producing a consensus “Reduce” rating. Shares opened at $8.37, while the bank recently exceeded quarterly EPS and revenue expectations despite reporting negative net margin and return on equity.

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FGBI - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 25th will be given a dividend of 0.01 per share by the bank on Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 25th.

First Guaranty Bancshares has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.4%per year over the last three years. First Guaranty Bancshares has a payout ratio of 4.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect First Guaranty Bancshares to earn $0.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.2%.

First Guaranty Bancshares Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of First Guaranty Bancshares stock opened at $8.37 on Wednesday. First Guaranty Bancshares has a twelve month low of $4.31 and a twelve month high of $11.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.46 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $8.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.20.

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The bank reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $24.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.66 million. First Guaranty Bancshares had a negative net margin of 16.83% and a negative return on equity of 12.25%. Equities research analysts forecast that First Guaranty Bancshares will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FGBI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of First Guaranty Bancshares from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Guaranty Bancshares to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce".

About First Guaranty Bancshares

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Hammond, Louisiana. Through its principal subsidiary, First Guaranty Bank, the company provides community banking services to individuals, businesses and organizations.

First Guaranty Bank offers deposit products such as checking, savings and money market accounts, certificates of deposit and business deposits. Its lending activities include commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, construction and development loans, residential real estate loans, agricultural lending and consumer loans.

The bank also provides treasury management, online and mobile banking, cash management and other financial services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.