Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.29 Per Share

Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, January 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.29 per share by the bank on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a 3.6% increase from Enterprise Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28.

Enterprise Financial Services has increased its dividend by an average of 12.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 11 consecutive years. Enterprise Financial Services has a dividend payout ratio of 22.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Enterprise Financial Services to earn $5.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.1%.

Enterprise Financial Services Stock Performance

EFSC opened at $54.30 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $58.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.97. Enterprise Financial Services has a 1 year low of $37.28 and a 1 year high of $63.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.14. Enterprise Financial Services had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 20.12%. Equities analysts expect that Enterprise Financial Services will post 4.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EFSC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target (up previously from $68.00) on shares of Enterprise Financial Services in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Enterprise Financial Services from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Enterprise Financial Services

In other Enterprise Financial Services news, Director James M. Havel sold 5,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $323,046.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,447 shares in the company, valued at $903,186.09. The trade was a 26.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

About Enterprise Financial Services

Enterprise Financial Services Corp operates as the holding company for Enterprise Bank & Trust that offers banking and wealth management services to individuals and corporate customers primarily in Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, and New Mexico. It provides checking, savings, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit.