WASH Stock: An 8.2% Dividend Yield From a 200-Year-Old Bank
August 5, 2025
A Bank Stock Offering Consistency in This Noisy Market
When markets get noisy, most investors end up chasing whatever is flashing on the screen: big tech stocks, hot initial public offerings, or some story that dominates headlines for a few weeks. That might work for a trader, but when you’re looking to build wealth steadily and generate reliable income, the best opportunities often reside in the shadows.
Take a look at community-focused banks, for instance. They don’t get much airtime on CNBC. They don’t get much attention on social media. But these institutions have been quietly running solid businesses for decades, sometimes even centuries.
One of the names that fits the bill perfectly is Washington Trust Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:WASH). This bank has been around since 1800. It has seen financial crises, recessions, and interest-rate cycles come and go, all while sticking to a conservative game plan.
WASH stock currently offers a very attractive dividend yield that income investors shouldn’t overlook.
What Does Washington Trust Bancorp Do?
Washington Trust Bancorp is the holding company for The Washington Trust Company. Founded in 1800, Washington Trust is Rhode Island’s oldest community bank. It provides a wide range of banking and financial services to individuals and businesses and operates through two main segments: Commercial Banking and Wealth Management Services.
The regional bank’s Commercial Banking segment offers a variety of deposit accounts, including checking, savings, money market, retirement, and time deposits. It also offers lending products, such as commercial real estate loans, commercial and industrial loans, residential mortgages, home construction loans, and consumer loans.
This segment of the bank also offers banking tools like debit cards, ATMs, phone and online banking, mobile banking, remote deposit, and other cash management services. It also manages an investment portfolio and wholesale funding services.
The Wealth Management Services segment offers investment management, financial planning, and trust and estate services, including acting as trustee, custodian, or guardian. These services are offered to individuals and institutions. (Source: “Profile,” Yahoo! Finance, last accessed July 30, 2025.)
Solid Financials Making Bullish Case for WASH Stock
For the second quarter of 2025, Washington Trust reported net income of $13.2 million, or $0.68 per diluted share. This was up from $12.2 million or $0.63 per share, in the first quarter.
Net interest income for the regional bank climbed to $37.2 million—this was up two percent quarter over quarter.
Washington Trust’s non-interest income was $17.1 million. Here, the wealth management revenues were $10.1 million, and mortgage banking revenues were $3.0 million, surging 32% from the previous quarter as mortgage originations picked up steam. Loans sold by Washington Trust amounted to $116.8 million in the second quarter of 2025—up 55% quarter over quarter. (Source: “Washington Trust Reports Second Quarter 2025 Results,” Washington Trust Bancorp Inc, July 21, 2025.)
What’s ahead for this bank?
Wall Street analysts are projecting revenue growth for Washington Trust of 14.32% in 2025 and 7.67% in 2026. Earnings per share are expected to be $2.71 in 2025 and $3.02 in 2026. (Source: “Analysis,” Yahoo! Finance, last accessed July 30, 2025.)
That’s a robust financial performance. And what’s ahead makes the bullish case for WASH stock even stronger.
Boring Balance Sheet Brings Stability?
Beyond the headline financial performance, take a close look at the regional bank’s balance sheet, too.
The balance sheet is holding up well despite a tough economic backdrop and the fact that regional banks have been in the spotlight since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in early 2023.
Washington Trust’s total loans amounted to $5.1 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2025. This was up one percent from the previous quarter, driven by growth in commercial loans.
Now let’s consider the loan quality: the bank’s provision for credit losses was just $0.6 million, down 50% from $1.2 million in first quarter of 2025.
So, Washington Trust’s provision for credit losses was just a minor fraction of its total loans.
As for deposits, they amounted to $5.0 billion at the end of the second quarter, which was an increase of $5.0 million or 0.1% quarter over quarter.
Adding it all up, the balance sheet at Washington Trust Bancorp appears conservative and well-diversified. This is the kind of structure that could allow the regional bank to navigate through interest rate cycles without taking on unnecessary risk. Sure, it might be boring, but boring can be great sometimes. It means less volatility with WASH stock, for example.
WASH Stock: Its Dividend Beats the U.S. Treasury
When it comes to dividends, WASH stock doesn’t get much attention, and that’s good news for income investors. In a market where everyone chases the flashy names, this bank has been quietly cutting checks to shareholders for decades.
For the second quarter of 2025, Washington Trust paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This amounts to $2.24 per share on an annualized basis. At the current stock price, this means a dividend yield of about 8.2%.
In a world where the 10-year U.S. Treasury sits around 4.5%, this is a very attractive cash-on-cash return.
Chart Courtesy of StockCharts.com
On top of Washington Trust Bancorp’s high yield, I also love the consistency here.
Washington Trust has paid dividends for more than a century and has managed to maintain its track record through recessions, financial crises, a pandemic, and even the recent regional bank turmoil. Management hasn’t been aggressively raising the company’s dividends over the past year, but focus on stability and preserving capital is great for now, too.
The Lowdown on WASH Stock
In the world of regional banks, everyone chases size. I like to look in places that others don’t; that’s where Washington Trust Bancorp comes in.
This is a 200-year-old, community-focused bank based in Rhode Island. It’s not flashy, but Washington Trust does a few things very well:
- Runs a $5.1-billion loan book with a focus on commercial and residential lending
- Generates stable non-interest income from wealth management and a growing mortgage banking business
- Keeps costs tight and credit quality in check
- Pays a consistent dividend, with a yield of 8.2%, which is unheard of among major banks in the U.S.
- Has massive institutional backing, with close to 70% of all outstanding shares owned
No, WASH stock won’t double overnight. But for income-focused investors, it is a steady ship sailing through a choppy interest-rate environment.
