Former Gov. Mike Beebe has been named to the board of directors of Home BancShares Inc., the publicly traded parent company of Centennial Bank that is headed by his college roommate, Chairman John Allison.
At the annual shareholders meeting, held Thursday evening at the Wyndham Riverfront in North Little Rock, Allison also announced that the directors had voted to raise the annual dividend by almost 17 percent and to split the stock 2-for-1 come June 8.
The annual dividend will increase from 60 cents to 70 cents per share before the split. The split was made possible by shareholder approval of a board proposal to double the number of authorized shares from 100 million to 200 million. About 70 million shares are outstanding.
In a wide-ranging address to shareholders, Allison said Centennial had reached a 37 percent efficiency rating — essentially the number of cents the bank has to spend to earn $1 — in the fourth quarter of 2015, and he announced a new goal of 35 percent.
"I don't know anyone running a 35, but why not?" he said.