Chesapeake Financial Announces Stock Split

By Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, April 07, 2011

Shareholders were happy to hear Chesapeake Financial Shares, parent of Chesapeake Bank, announce plans for a stock split at its shareholders meeting on April 1.

The six-for-five stock split will be for shareholders of record April 1, to be payable on or before April 15. Chesapeake Financial Shares Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Szyperski made the announcement, noting the stock split was indicative of the company’s solid earnings and growth. A stock split increases the number of shares in a public company.

In the first quarter, the company reported earnings for 2010 of $5.4 million, representing a 12.6 percent increase over 2009 earnings. Based on the current trading price of the stock, Szyperski noted that Chesapeake Financial Shares’ dividend yield is now 3.24 percent.

At the same shareholders meeting, held in Irvington, Chesapeake Financial employees made presentations on the state of the financial services industry. “While there have been increased earnings in the banking industry in 2010 as compared to 2009, the number of problem banks on the FDIC list still has risen each of the last four calendar quarters,” Szyperski said. “Additionally, though noncurrent loans industry-wide have decreased in the last several quarters, they still remain at high levels.”

In contrast to the current status of the industry, Chesapeake Financial completed the best year in its history, with a net income of $5.4 million and return on average equity of 13.6 percent.

The company’s online bank, Clear Sky Accounts, has customers in all 50 states and now represents Chesapeake Bank’s third largest depository branch. On the investment side, Chesapeake Investment Group was able to increase their assets under management to $302 million at year-end.

Read more about Chesapeake Financial’s first-quarter earnings here.