How to buy Westamerica Bancorporation stock | $60.35

Westamerica Bancorporation is a banks-regional business based in the US. Westamerica Bancorporation shares (WABC) are listed on the NASDAQ and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Westamerica Bancorporation employs 737 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$200.1 million.

How to buy shares in Westamerica Bancorporation

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Westamerica Bancorporation. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: WABC. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Westamerica Bancorporation reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$60.35, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Westamerica Bancorporation, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Westamerica Bancorporation. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Westamerica Bancorporation share price

Use our graph to track the performance of WABC stocks over time.

Westamerica Bancorporation shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-01-19.

Latest market close	USD$60.35
52-week range	USD$45.9599 - USD$65.699
50-day moving average	USD$55.9264
200-day moving average	USD$57.0235
Wall St. target price	USD$65.33
PE ratio	20.8485
Dividend yield	USD$1.64 (2.76%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$2.864

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Is it a good time to buy Westamerica Bancorporation stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Westamerica Bancorporation by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Westamerica Bancorporation price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $60.35 from 2021-01-11

1 week (2021-01-12)	N/A
1 month (2020-12-19)	N/A
3 months (2020-10-19)	N/A
6 months (2020-07-19)	N/A

1 year (2020-01-19)	N/A
2 years (2019-01-19)	N/A
3 years (2018-01-19)	N/A
5 years (2016-01-19)	N/A

Is Westamerica Bancorporation under- or over-valued?

Valuing Westamerica Bancorporation stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Westamerica Bancorporation's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Westamerica Bancorporation's P/E ratio

Westamerica Bancorporation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 21x. In other words, Westamerica Bancorporation shares trade at around 21x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

Westamerica Bancorporation's PEG ratio

Westamerica Bancorporation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 8.32. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Westamerica Bancorporation's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Westamerica Bancorporation financials

Revenue TTM	USD$200.1 million
Operating margin TTM	51.05%
Gross profit TTM	USD$203.8 million
Return on assets TTM	1.27%
Return on equity TTM	10.05%
Profit margin	38.63%
Book value	$30.693
Market capitalisation	USD$1.6 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Westamerica Bancorporation shares

There are currently 1.0 million Westamerica Bancorporation shares held short by investors – that's known as Westamerica Bancorporation's "short interest". This figure is 2.1% up from 1.0 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Westamerica Bancorporation shares can be evaluated.

Westamerica Bancorporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Westamerica Bancorporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Westamerica Bancorporation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Westamerica Bancorporation shares traded daily (recently around 115048.03149606). Westamerica Bancorporation's SIR currently stands at 8.89. In other words for every 100,000 Westamerica Bancorporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 8890 shares are currently held short.

However Westamerica Bancorporation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Westamerica Bancorporation shares, or, against the total number of tradable Westamerica Bancorporation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Westamerica Bancorporation's short interest could be expressed as 0.04% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Westamerica Bancorporation shares in existence, roughly 40 shares are currently held short) or 0.0647% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Westamerica Bancorporation shares, roughly 65 shares are currently held short).

A SIR below 10% would generally be considered to indicate a fairly optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Westamerica Bancorporation.

Find out more about how you can short Westamerica Bancorporation stock.

Westamerica Bancorporation share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 57.34% of net profits

Recently Westamerica Bancorporation has paid out, on average, around 57.34% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 2.76% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Westamerica Bancorporation shareholders could enjoy a 2.76% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Westamerica Bancorporation's case, that would currently equate to about $1.64 per share.

Westamerica Bancorporation's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

Westamerica Bancorporation's most recent dividend payout was on 13 November 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 30 October 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Westamerica Bancorporation's shares ever split?

Westamerica Bancorporation's shares were split on a 3:1 basis on 26 February 1998. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 3 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Westamerica Bancorporation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 66.7% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Westamerica Bancorporation shares which in turn could have impacted Westamerica Bancorporation's share price.

Westamerica Bancorporation share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Westamerica Bancorporation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $45.9599 up to $65.699. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while Westamerica Bancorporation's is 0.7143. This would suggest that Westamerica Bancorporation's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Westamerica Bancorporation overview

Westamerica Bancorporation operates as a bank holding company for Westamerica Bank that provides various banking products and services to individual and commercial customers. The company accepts various deposit products, including retail savings and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio includes commercial, commercial and residential real estate, real estate construction, and consumer installment loans, as well as other loans primarily consisting of indirect automobile loans. Westamerica Bancorporation operates through 80 branch offices in 21 counties in Northern and Central California. The company was formerly known as Independent Bankshares Corporation and changed its name to Westamerica Bancorporation in 1983. Westamerica Bancorporation was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in San Rafael, California.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Westamerica Bancorporation is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 3.991% of Westamerica Bancorporation shares are held by insiders and 77.82% by institutions.

• How many people work for Westamerica Bancorporation?

  Latest data suggests 737 work at Westamerica Bancorporation.

• When does the fiscal year end for Westamerica Bancorporation?

  Westamerica Bancorporation's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Westamerica Bancorporation based?

  Westamerica Bancorporation's address is: 1108 Fifth Avenue, San Rafael, CA, United States, 94901

• What is Westamerica Bancorporation's ISIN number?

  Westamerica Bancorporation's international securities identification number is: US9570901036

• What is Westamerica Bancorporation's CUSIP number?

  Westamerica Bancorporation's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 957090103