National Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:NKSH) Increases Dividend to $0.78 Per Share

National Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:NKSH) announced a semi-annual dividend on Wednesday, November 13th,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.78 per share by the bank on Monday, December 2nd. This represents a yield of 5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. This is an increase from National Bankshares’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.55.

National Bankshares has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.8% annually over the last three years. National Bankshares has a payout ratio of 58.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect National Bankshares to earn $2.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.9%.

National Bankshares Stock Up 4.3 %

NASDAQ:NKSH opened at $32.04 on Friday. National Bankshares has a 52 week low of $25.18 and a 52 week high of $37.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.80. The company has a market cap of $203.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10 and a beta of 0.56.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Janney Montgomery Scott raised National Bankshares from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday.

About National Bankshares

National Bankshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for the National Bank of Blacksburg that provides retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, businesses, non-profits, and local governments. The company accepts interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing demand deposit accounts, money market deposit accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, health savings accounts, and individual retirement accounts.