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Westamerica announced that its board of directors approved an increase in the company's stock repurchase plan authorization by 2M shares. After accounting for shares previously purchased, and the 785,023 available under the prior authorization, the company currently has 2.79M shares remaining under the expanded plan, which represents 11.8% of the company's common stock outstanding as of March 31. Under the plan the company may repurchase, as conditions warrant, shares of the company's common stock on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions prior to December 31.

Westamerica declared a quarterly cash dividend of 48c per share, which represents a 2c per share increase from the prior quarter. The dividend goes to shareholders of record at the close of business May 4, and is payable on May 15. Chairman, President and CEO David Payne stated, "This increase in the quarterly dividend recognizes Westamerica's reliable earnings stream, financial strength and conservative risk profile."

Net interest income on a fully-taxable equivalent basis was $52.7M for the first quarter 2026, compared to $53.5M for the fourth quarter 2025. The annualized yield earned on loans, bonds and cash for the first quarter 2026 was 3.98% compared to 4.00% for the fourth quarter 2025. The annualized cost of funding the loan and bond portfolios was 0.24% for the first quarter 2026 unchanged from the fourth quarter 2025. "Westamerica's first quarter 2026 results benefited from the Company's valuable low-cost deposit base, of which 46% was represented by non-interest bearing checking accounts during the quarter; the annualized cost of funding our loan and bond portfolios was 0.24% in the quarter. Operating expenses remained well controlled at 42% of total revenues and credit quality remained stable with nonperforming assets of $1.4M at March 31, 2026," said Chairman, President and CEO David Payne.