The board of directors for Pacific Financial Corporation, the holding company of Bank of the Pacific, has declared a cash dividend of $0.20 per share to all of its shareholders of record, payable on or before Dec. 28.

The cash dividend equates to a yield of 4.3 percent, based on the firm’s closing share price on Nov. 28.

Bank of the Pacific posted strong earnings in 2012.

Between January and September, the bank recorded $3,106,000 in earnings—an increase of nearly 28 percent from the same period in 2011.

In statements, executives with Pacific Financial Corporation expressed optimism for the company’s future.

“We continue to be encouraged by the improvement in asset quality, net interest margin and non-interest income, the last of which has been generated from the residential real estate market,” said Dennis Long, the company’s president and CEO, in a press release.