Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) Shares Purchased by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC raised its position in shares of Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) by 12,712.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,136 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC owned about 0.05% of Mercantile Bank worth $365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MBWM. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Mercantile Bank during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,646,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $12,790,000 after acquiring an additional 40,055 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mercantile Bank during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,392,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 35.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, De Lisle Partners LLP raised its holdings 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 worth $2,417,000 after purchasing an additional 17,649 shares in the last quarter. 58.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mercantile Bank

In related news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.14, for a total transaction of $147,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $826,043.40. This trade represents a 15.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $371,910 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Mercantile Bank Trading Down 1.1 %

Mercantile Bank stock opened at $43.67 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $46.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02. Mercantile Bank Co. has a 52 week low of $33.46 and a 52 week high of $52.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $708.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82 and a beta of 0.98.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 14.29% and a net margin of 21.99%. Research analysts forecast that Mercantile Bank Co. will post 4.83 EPS for the current year.

Mercantile Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.37 dividend. This is an increase from Mercantile Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. Mercantile Bank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.