Mercantile Bank’s (MBWM) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a $47.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on MBWM. Hovde Group downgraded Mercantile Bank from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded Mercantile Bank from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th.

Mercantile Bank Stock Performance

Shares of MBWM opened at $33.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $36.90 and a 200-day moving average of $36.58. The company has a market cap of $541.95 million, a PE ratio of 6.52 and a beta of 0.97. Mercantile Bank has a one year low of $23.89 and a one year high of $42.82.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $56.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $56.00 million. Mercantile Bank had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 25.58%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.37 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Mercantile Bank will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercantile Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. Mercantile Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.13%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mercantile Bank

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,443,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,860,000 after buying an additional 59,394 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,153,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,873,000 after buying an additional 5,838 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 799,865 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,724,000 after buying an additional 13,400 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 34.0% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 427,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,135,000 after buying an additional 108,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, North Star Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 362,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,630,000 after buying an additional 1,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.63% of the company’s stock.

Mercantile Bank Company Profile

Mercantile Bank Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Mercantile Bank of Michigan that provides commercial and retail banking services to small- to medium-sized businesses and individuals in the United States. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, and term certificate accounts; time deposits; and certificates of deposit.