Douglas R. Gulling Sells 4,000 Shares of West Bancorporation, Inc. (NASDAQ:WTBA) Stock

West Bancorporation, Inc. (NASDAQ:WTBA) Director Douglas R. Gulling sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.61, for a total transaction of $94,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 80,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,905,539.49. This represents a 4.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

West Bancorporation Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ WTBA opened at $23.90 on Friday. West Bancorporation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.80 and a 1 year high of $24.85. The stock has a market cap of $402.24 million, a P/E ratio of 18.67 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.20 and a 200 day moving average of $18.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

West Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WTBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.04. West Bancorporation had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 9.46%. The company had revenue of $50.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.00 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that West Bancorporation, Inc. will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Bancorporation Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. West Bancorporation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WTBA. StockNews.com raised shares of West Bancorporation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of West Bancorporation from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WTBA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in West Bancorporation by 3.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 733,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,083,000 after buying an additional 21,604 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in West Bancorporation by 15.6% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 230,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,384,000 after buying an additional 31,194 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in West Bancorporation by 3.9% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 216,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,880,000 after buying an additional 8,200 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in West Bancorporation by 3.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 120,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,153,000 after buying an additional 3,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in West Bancorporation by 280.0% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 48,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $867,000 after buying an additional 35,680 shares during the last quarter. 44.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

West Bancorporation Company Profile

West Bancorporation, Inc operates as the financial holding company provides community banking and trust services to individuals and small- to medium-sized businesses in the United States. It offers deposit services, including checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time certificates of deposit.