Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) Director Robert B. Kaminski Sells 3,000 Shares of Stock

Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.14, for a total transaction of $147,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $826,043.40. The trade was a 15.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Mercantile Bank Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ MBWM opened at $48.73 on Wednesday. Mercantile Bank Co. has a twelve month low of $33.46 and a twelve month high of $52.98. The stock has a market cap of $786.99 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company’s fifty day moving average is $47.00 and its 200-day moving average is $45.66.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.07. Mercantile Bank had a return on equity of 14.29% and a net margin of 21.99%. Equities research analysts predict that Mercantile Bank Co. will post 4.68 EPS for the current year.

Mercantile Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.04%. Mercantile Bank’s payout ratio is currently 29.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Trading of Mercantile Bank

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mercantile Bank by 108.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 174,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,074,000 after buying an additional 90,802 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Mercantile Bank in the 4th quarter valued at $3,646,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Mercantile Bank by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 287,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,790,000 after purchasing an additional 40,055 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 82,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,601,000 after purchasing an additional 21,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, De Lisle Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 46.9% in the 3rd quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 55,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,417,000 after purchasing an additional 17,649 shares during the period. 58.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.