Earnings momentum for Washington Trust Bancorp Inc. (WASH) has increased since this major regional bank posted impressive third quarter results last week, which included a 17.0% year-over-year jump in earnings. Furthermore, this Zacks #2 Rank (Buy) pays a regular quarterly dividend that yields a solid 3.6%.

Impressive Third Quarter Earnings

On October 22, Washington Trust Bancorp reported third quarter earnings per share of 54 cents, topping the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.9% and the year-ago earnings by 17.0%. The improvement was primarily due to revenue growth and a lower provision for loan losses.

Net interest income climbed 5.6% year over year to $22.7 million. Non-interest income rose 30.0% to $16.9 million. Moreover, net interest margin expanded six basis points (bps) to 3.28%. Yet, the company's non-interest expenses increased 16.4% to $26.3 million over the same period.

Credit metrics continued to improve at Washington Trust. The provision for loan losses was

Company Profile
Webster Financial Corporation operates as the holding company of Webster Bank, National Association that provides financial services to individuals, families, and businesses primarily in southern New England and Westchester County, New York. Webster Financial Corporation (WBS) is scheduled to report its second quarter earnings results on July 13, 2012, before market open.

Technical Overview
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Webster Financial has a market cap of $1.91 billion and it is currently trading around $21.73 with a 52 week range of $14.34 to $23.94. The stock has risen 7.06% year to date. The following table provides the key financial ratios for Webster Financial:

Recent News

• On July 5, 2012, Webster Bank announced that Bob Polito, senior vice president, director of government guaranteed lending, has

Most good things are worth waiting for. If you are to establish a long-term relationship with a stock, it better be a quality stock. Time is a powerful force, with it we can overcome poor choices, poor timing and bad decisions. Without it, we immediately are forced to pay for our indiscretions. When it come to building retirement income, I look for stocks that have consistently increased their dividends for many consecutive years.

Below are several stocks building future gratification through with the promise of higher future cash dividends:

RLJ Lodging Trust (RLJ) is an independent equity real estate investment trust. March 15th the company increased its quarterly dividend 10% to $0.165 per common share. The dividend is payable on April 13, 2012, to shareholders of record as of March 30, 2012. The yield based on the new payout is 3.8%.

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

Value investors look for stocks trading below their fair value with the assumption that they'll soon rise to that value, generating a profit. If you identify with value investing, you may be interested in this list.

We ran a screen on small-cap stocks, with market caps between $300-$500 million, for those trading at significant discounts to their Graham number, a proxy for fair value.

The Graham Number is a measure of a stock's maximum fair value, and it only requires two data points: current earnings per share and current book value per share. ?The Graham Number = Square Root of (22.5) x (TTM Earnings per Share) x (MRQ Book Value per Share). This equation assumes that a stock is overvalued if P/E is over 15 or P/BV is over 1.5. Stocks trading at a significant discount to their Graham number may be undervalued.

Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes

Looking to boost your portfolio’s income, while decreasing its systemic risk? Then this may be an interesting point for your own analysis.

To construct this list we looked for stocks with the following characteristics:

• Beta between 0.5 and 1
• Dividend yield above 3%
• Significantly undervalued by the Graham Number

Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the top six stocks mentioned below. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.

The Graham Number is considered to be the maximum price an investor should pay for a stock, according to the formula developed by Benjamin Graham. 


It is calculated as follows:

• Graham Number = Square Root of (22.5) x (Earnings per Share) x (Book Value per Share).


This equation is predicated on Graham’s belief that the price-to-earnings (P/EPS) ratio should be no more than

Looking to diminish your portfolio’s risk exposure to the overall market and increase your value-holdings? Then this list might offer a good starting point.

To construct this list we looked for stocks with low beta profile and trading at a significant discount to their Graham Number.



As you may already know, The Graham Number is the maximum price Benjamin Graham thought an investor should pay for a stock. It is derived as follows:

The Graham Number = Square Root of (22.5) x (Earnings per Share) x (Book Value per Share).

It is predicated on the belief that the price-to-earnings (P/EPS) ratio should be no more than 15, and the price-to-book value (P/BVPS) ratio should be no more than 1.5. Therefore we only include companies that meet both of these criteria.

From these criteria, the product of the two should not be more than 22.5. In other words, (P/EPS of 15)

If income investing were as simple as picking the stock with the highest yield, everyone would be an expert. Most assume (rightfully so) that yield is heavily influenced by risk, but much more goes into determining yield. The industry the company operates in, legal considerations (REITs and MLPs), maturity and growth potential all have an effect on an individual stock’s yield, along with the company’s ability to grow its dividend.

Below are several companies confident and secure enough in their business to increase their cash dividends:

Air Products (APD) serves customers in industrial, energy, technology and healthcare markets worldwide with a unique portfolio of atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials, and equipment and services. March 17th the company increased its quarterly dividend 18% to $0.58/share. The dividend is payable on May 9, 2011 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 1, 2011.

I recently wrote that “One nice thing about compiling the Dividend Champions list of companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years (which can be found here: http://dripinvesting.org/Tools/Tools.asp ) is that I get to see which companies are nearing the anniversaries of their previous dividend increases. Since most of these firms raise their payout about the same time every year, we can say with some confidence that they are likely to do so again.”

The flip side of that coin is that I also get to see which companies are in danger of being deleted because they have gone too long without an increase. Although companies can remain on the list even without an increase in the current year (as long as the total dividends exceed what was paid in the prior year), the fourth-quarter declaration can spell the end of the line for some

Unlike many other countries, there are thousands of small community banks in the U.S. These banks have a smaller foot print when compared to the regional or national banks such as Bank of America (BAC), Fifth Third Bank (FITB), U.S. Bank (USB), etc. However they are usually know their customers better and maintain close relationships with the local small businesses and consumers.

Some community banks operate in just a few counties and have very few branches. For example, United Bancorp Inc Ohio (UBCP) is a state chartered bank and has branches in just a seven country area in Ohio.

Accordingly, these banks have very low market caps and liquidity can be issue since the total number of outstanding shares is low. UBCP has a market cap of about $45M with 5.2M shares outstanding.

The following table lists 33 small cap community banks with yields of over 5%:

With the market taking a breather from the pivot bottom in March, it may be worthwhile taking a look at dividend stocks with a strong track record of increasing dividends year in and year out regardless of what the economic conditions are. While other high yield options exist such as corporate bonds and muni bonds, the ability to increase dividends through thick and thin demonstrates that these outfits have the cash on hand and discipline to weather virtually any storm moving forward. With the prospect of future dividend increases annually, the underlying share prices are sure to follow since investors won't allow such performance to go unnoticed for long.

In order to provide a meaningful list of considerations, I sought out stocks with the following criteria:

• Yields sufficiently high (4.0%) to exceed even modest inflationary increase from 2009
• Increased dividends annually for at least the past 10 years

The US Broad Dividend Achievers Index published by Mergent consists of 283 well established companies with consistent dividend payments in various sectors. Many of the financial stocks that performed poorly last year were eliminated from the index back in January during the annual reconstitution of the index. Currently 32 banks are represented in this index under the state commercial banks category.

Dividend Achievers share the following criteria:

• Must have increased annual regular dividends for at least the last 10 consecutive years
• Must meet specific liquidity screening criteria
• Must have strong cash reserves, solid balance sheets and a proven record of
  consistent earnings growth
• Must be listed on the NYSE, AMEX or NASDAQ

The 32 strong dividend-paying U.S. banks in the Broad Dividend Achievers Index are listed below with their current dividend yield:

Q4 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

January 28, 2009 8:30 am ET

Executives

Elizabeth Eckel – IR

John Warren – Chairman & CEO

David Devault – EVP, Secretary and CFO

Analysts

Frank Schiraldi – Sandler O’Niell

Lee Howard – The Day Publishing Company

Laurie Hunsicker – Stifel Nicolaus

Damon DelMonte – KBW

Presentation

Operator

Hello, and welcome to the fourth quarter of 2008 Washington Trust Bancorp earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. There’ll be an opportunity for you to ask questions at the end of today’s presentation. (Operator instructions) Please note this conference is being recorded. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Elizabeth Eckel. Ma’am, please begin.

Elizabeth Eckel

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the quarterly earnings conference call for Washington Trust Bancorp, NASDAQ global market symbol WASH. Today’s conference call is being recorded and