Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) Upgraded by Hovde Group to “Outperform” Rating

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) was upgraded by investment analysts at Hovde Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday. The firm presently has a $54.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock. Hovde Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 15.48% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Mercantile Bank from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Mercantile Bank Trading Up 5.8 %

NASDAQ MBWM opened at $46.76 on Wednesday. Mercantile Bank has a 1 year low of $33.46 and a 1 year high of $52.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $754.71 million, a PE ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average of $47.02 and a 200 day moving average of $45.36.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Mercantile Bank

In other Mercantile Bank news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total transaction of $198,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,267,951.10. This represents a 13.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,300 shares of company stock valued at $521,218. Company insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mercantile Bank

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MBWM. Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Mercantile Bank in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Mercantile Bank in the third quarter valued at about $89,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 16.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Mercantile Bank during the third quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, 626 Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Mercantile Bank during the 3rd quarter valued at about $213,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.