FB Financial Ramps Up Dividend By 22%

FB Financial Corporation announced a 22% hike in its quarterly dividend to $0.11 per share from $0.09 per share. The new quarterly dividend will be paid on Feb. 22, 2021, to shareholders of record as of Feb. 8.

The company’s new annual dividend of $0.44 per share now reflects a dividend yield of 1.18%. The company’s CEO, Christopher T. Holmes, said, “We are pleased with the board of directors’ decision to pay our 12^th consecutive quarterly dividend.”

On Jan. 26, FB Financial (FBK) reported better-than-expected 4Q results. Its 4Q earnings of $1.14 per share came in ahead of the Street’s estimates of $0.81 and jumped 62.9% year-over-year. Further, revenue increased 78.5% year-over-year to $165.9 million, topping analysts’ expectations of $162 million.

Net interest margin reduced to 3.32% in the quarter from 4.12% in the year-ago period. At the end of the quarter, total deposits increased 91.7% year-over-year to $9.5 billion, while loans (held for investment) grew 60.6% year-over-year to about $7.1 billion. (See FB Financial stock analysis on TipRanks)

Following the results, Raymond James analyst Ammar Samma maintained a Hold rating on the stock. In a note to investors, Samma said, “Reported results were impacted by the CECL [current expected credit losses] model/underlying methodology, where the company released reserves in the quarter, leaving the loan loss reserve ratio ex. PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] down 18 bp to 2.48% (still one of the highest in our coverage universe).”

Meanwhile, the rest of the Street has a cautiously optimistic outlook with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 2 Buys, 1 Hold and 1 Sell. The average analyst price target of $37.33 implies that the shares are fully priced at current levels. Shares gained 3.5% over the past year.

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