Boston, MA 03/24/2014 (wallstreetpr) – First West Virginia Bancorp, Inc. (NYSEMKT:FWV) is a bank holding company. It wholly owns Progressive Bank N.A. This stock is turning out to be a rare one and this year might see it becoming more generous in cash and stock dividends. In fact, analysts have been sounding the bell that investors who want more on the safe, stable and rewarding bank stock should consider First West Virginia Bancorp.
We look into First West Virginia Bancorp to unearth the opportunities and interesting aspects of this stock and why it deserves a place in your portfolio. But again, it is always up you the investors to make that final decision as to whether stock has what you are looking for or not.
Solid fundamentals
First West Virginia Bancorp, Inc. (NYSEMKT:FWV) has performed really well in the past five years. The company has allowance for bad loans at 2.19 percent, and its net charge-off is solid at below 0.10 percent. Insiders have been particularly bullish on the stock whereby they own almost 30 percent of the shares.
The company pays nice cash dividend which is also growing significantly. In the first quarter of 2014, the board of directors approved dividend hike to $0.20 cash dividend per share from $0.19. That represented 5.3 percent increase from the cash dividend amount approved for the fourth quarter of 2013. The positive cash dividend story in First West Virginia Bancorp is baked in low float and outstanding shares which are 1.25 and 1.72 million shares respectively.
Owing to the solid state of the stock, analysts believe the company might be a takeover target. And they say there will be no reason why the bank would refuse an offer if the price is fair.
Performance
First West Virginia Bancorp, Inc. (NYSEMKT:FWV) reported $2.2 million net income or $1.30 per share for the fiscal year 2013. That contrasted with $2.5 million or $1.48 per share in 2012. The drop in net income in 2013 was due to increase in expenses and drop in net interest rates. For the fourth quarter, net income was $1.1 million or 61 cents. That was better than $0.91 million or 53 cents in the fourth quarter of 2012. The increase in net income in the fourth quarter was as a result of income tax expense changes.
Shares of the company closed at $18.55, up 30.6 percent in Friday session.
