Middlefield Banc Corp. (NASDAQ:MBCN) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.21 Per Share

Middlefield Banc Corp. (NASDAQ:MBCN) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 11th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.21 per share by the bank on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from Middlefield Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

Middlefield Banc has raised its dividend by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years. Middlefield Banc has a dividend payout ratio of 38.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Middlefield Banc to earn $2.12 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.7%.

Middlefield Banc Stock Down 0.7 %

MBCN traded down $0.18 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $25.61. 2,005 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,414. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Middlefield Banc has a fifty-two week low of $20.61 and a fifty-two week high of $34.00. The stock has a market cap of $206.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34 and a beta of 0.70.

Middlefield Banc (NASDAQ:MBCN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.14. Middlefield Banc had a return on equity of 7.47% and a net margin of 14.31%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Middlefield Banc will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Hovde Group dropped their price target on shares of Middlefield Banc from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Middlefield Banc from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Middlefield Banc from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th.

About Middlefield Banc

Middlefield Banc Corp. operates as the bank holding company for The Middlefield Banking Company that provides various commercial banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, small business owners, and retail customers in northeastern and central Ohio. It offers checking, savings, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, money market accounts, time certificates of deposit, commercial loans, real estate loans, various consumer loans, safe deposit facilities, and travelers' checks.