Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Positive Forecast for Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) Stock Price

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) had its price target lifted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $56.00 to $57.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Mercantile Bank Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MBWM opened at $48.52 on Wednesday. Mercantile Bank has a fifty-two week low of $33.46 and a fifty-two week high of $52.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $783.11 million, a PE ratio of 9.74 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.39.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.07. Mercantile Bank had a net margin of 22.77% and a return on equity of 14.59%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Mercantile Bank will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercantile Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Mercantile Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Mercantile Bank’s payout ratio is presently 28.92%.

Insider Transactions at Mercantile Bank

In related news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 5,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.75, for a total transaction of $300,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,810 shares in the company, valued at $1,025,167.50. The trade was a 22.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 10,300 shares of company stock worth $521,218 over the last three months. 3.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mercantile Bank

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MBWM. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 108.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 174,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,074,000 after acquiring an additional 90,802 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Mercantile Bank during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,646,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 287,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,790,000 after buying an additional 40,055 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Mercantile Bank by 35.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 82,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,601,000 after buying an additional 21,411 shares during the period. Finally, De Lisle Partners LLP increased its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 46.9% in the third quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 55,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,417,000 after buying an additional 17,649 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.63% of the company’s stock.

About Mercantile Bank

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.