Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.37 Per Share

Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of 0.37 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, March 19th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Mercantile Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36.

Mercantile Bank has raised its dividend by an average of 6.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Mercantile Bank has a dividend payout ratio of 31.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Mercantile Bank to earn $4.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.9%.

Mercantile Bank Trading Up 3.8 %

MBWM stock opened at $48.52 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $783.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.80 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Mercantile Bank has a 1-year low of $33.46 and a 1-year high of $52.98. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.07. Mercantile Bank had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 14.29%. Research analysts anticipate that Mercantile Bank will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total transaction of $198,040.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,267,951.10. The trade was a 13.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,300 shares of company stock worth $521,218. 3.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MBWM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Mercantile Bank from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Hovde Group raised Mercantile Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday.

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.