JOHNSTOWN, Pa., Nov. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- AmeriServ Financial,
Inc. (NASDAQ: ASRV) announced that its Board of Directors approved
a stock repurchase program which calls for AmeriServ Financial,
Inc. to buyback up to 5% or approximately 1,060,000 shares of its
outstanding common stock. The shares may be purchased in open
market, negotiated, or block transactions. This common stock
repurchase program does not obligate the Company to acquire any
specific number of shares and may be suspended or discontinued at
any time. As of September 30,
2011, the Company had approximately 21.2 million shares of
its common stock outstanding.
Glenn L. Wilson, President and
Chief Executive Officer, commented on the common stock repurchase
program, "The announcement of this stock repurchase program
reflects our belief that the current ASRV stock price does not
reflect the meaningful financial improvements that our company has
achieved in 2011 which are evidenced by our enhanced earnings, high
quality balance sheet and significant asset quality improvements.
Accordingly, we believe that the return of a portion of our
strong capital to our shareholders through a common stock buyback
program is an appropriate capital management strategy at this
time."
ASRV had total assets of $973
million and shareholders' equity of $114 million or a book value of $4.39 per share at September 30, 2011. The Company's continued
to maintain strong capital ratios that considerably exceed the
regulatory defined well capitalized status with a risk based
capital ratio of 17.31%, an asset leverage ratio of 11.70% and a
tangible common equity to tangible assets ratio of 8.38% at
September 30, 2011.
SOURCE AmeriServ Financial, Inc.