The Chesapeake Financial Shares board of directors recently approved a $0.13 per share dividend payable on or about September 15, 2017. This represents a 4% increase over the prior quarter’s dividend.
“The increased dividend mirrors our core earnings growth,” said chairman of the board and chief executive officer Jeffrey M. Szyperski. “It continues our consistent 26-year history of dividend increases. The current heated community merger and acquisition market is providing us strong momentum in each of our markets going into the second half of 2017.
“We remain in the top tier of all community banks in the country and are optimistic about the second half of 2017 with our continued improvement in asset quality, strong loan growth and fee income lines of business. Our asset quality continues to improve with nonperforming assets decreasing to 1.5% of total loans as of June 30, 2017 as compared to 1.94% as of June 30, 2016. Our merchant services through Chesapeake Payment Systems continue to show strong growth,” continued Szyperski.