Waterstone (WSBF) Rewards Shareholders With Special Dividend

Waterstone Financial’s WSBF board of directors has announced a special dividend of 30 cents per share. The amount will be paid out on Dec 8, 2020 to its shareholders on record as of Dec 1. Prior to this, the company had declared a special dividend in March 2020.

Also, in July, the board approved a share repurchase program of up to 2 million shares, beginning Jul 29.

“This special dividend reflects our strong performance thus far during 2020, as well as our continued strong financial condition,” said Doug Gordon, CEO of Waterstone Financial. “Our dedication to a robust dividend payout ratio demonstrates our commitment to delivering shareholder value and our continued efforts to actively manage our capital.” he added.

However, let’s see whether it is worth considering Waterstone Financial stock based on its capital deployment activities. Shares of the company have rallied 26.7% in the past six months compared with 27% growth of its industry.

Investors interested in this Zacks #1 Ranked (Strong Buy) stock can take a look at the bank’s fundamentals and prospects. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Revenue Growth: Waterstone Financial’s revenues witnessed a CAGR of 6.1% over the last five years (2015-2019). Further, its projected sales growth rate of 34.8% for 2020 ensures the continuation of the uptrend in revenues.

Earnings Strength: Over the last three-five years, the company saw earnings per share (EPS) growth of 23.15%. Retaining this trend, its EPS is projected to grow 104.38% for 2020.

Superior Return on Equity (ROE): Waterstone Financial’s ROE of 16.23% compared with its industry average of 7.3% underlines the company’s supremacy over its peers.

Reasonable Valuation: The stock looks undervalued based on its price-to-earnings (P/E) and price-to-sales ratios. The company currently has a P/E (F1) ratio of 6.36 and a PEG ratio of 1.56, which are below the industry average of 12.39 and 2.22, respectively.

Other Key Picks

Some other top-ranked stocks in the finance space are Fifth Third Bancorp FITB, First Financial Bankshares, Inc. FFIN and Guaranty Bancshares Inc. GNTY. All these stocks flaunt a Zacks Rank #1 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Fifth Third has been raised 16.6% for the current year in the past 30 days. The company’s share price has gained 46.2% in the past six months.

First Financial has witnessed 3% upward revision in earnings estimates for current year in the past 30 days. Its share price has risen 21% in the past six months.

Guaranty’s shares have gained 18.9% in six months’ time. Its earnings estimates for current year have moved up 8.5% in the past 30 days.

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Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.

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Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
First Financial Bankshares, Inc. (FFIN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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Waterstone Financial, Inc. (WSBF) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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