DUBAI, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Qatar Islamic Bank QISB.QA (QIB), the Gulf state's largest sharia-compliant lender by assets, met analysts' average forecast as it reported a 2 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit on Wednesday, according to Reuters calculations.

It made a net profit of 555 million riyals ($152 million)during the three months to Dec. 31, compared with 544 million riyals in the same period a year earlier, Reuters calculated from financial statements in the absence of a quarterly earnings breakdown.

Three analysts polled by Reuters had forecast on average the bank to make a quarterly net profit of 539.7 million riyals.

For the full year of 2016, QIB posted net profit of 2.16 billion riyals, higher than the 1.95 billion riyals it reported a year earlier, according to a bourse statement.

The bank's board proposed paying a cash dividend of 4.75 riyals per share for 2016, the statement said. The 2015 payout was 4.25 riyals per share.

($1 = 3.6409 Qatar riyals)

(Reporting by Tom Arnold; Editing by Ruth Pitchford) ((Tom.Arnold@thomsonreuters.com; +97144536265; Reuters Messaging: tom.arnold.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))