Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 82,100 shares, a decrease of 41.7% from the January 31st total of 140,800 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 72,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Mercantile Bank from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Hovde Group upgraded Mercantile Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $54.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Mercantile Bank Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:MBWM traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $48.09. The company had a trading volume of 101,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 72,457. The firm has a market capitalization of $776.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.72 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.14. Mercantile Bank has a 12-month low of $33.46 and a 12-month high of $52.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.07. Mercantile Bank had a return on equity of 14.29% and a net margin of 21.99%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mercantile Bank will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercantile Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Mercantile Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. Mercantile Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.16, for a total transaction of $150,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,810 shares in the company, valued at $692,709.60. This trade represents a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 7,250 shares of company stock worth $359,883. Company insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Mercantile Bank by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 869,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,696,000 after buying an additional 2,252 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Mercantile Bank by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 389,948 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,349,000 after buying an additional 29,604 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Mercantile Bank by 3.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 376,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,484,000 after buying an additional 14,202 shares in the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Mercantile Bank by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 287,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,790,000 after buying an additional 40,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Mercantile Bank by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 286,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,756,000 after buying an additional 10,081 shares in the last quarter. 58.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.