Barclays PLC Boosts Position in Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM)

Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) by 99.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 32,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,423 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Mercantile Bank were worth $1,441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Mercantile Bank in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Mercantile Bank during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $89,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Mercantile Bank by 16.1% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Mercantile Bank during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, 626 Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mercantile Bank in the 3rd quarter valued at about $213,000. 58.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Mercantile Bank from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total value of $198,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,267,951.10. This represents a 13.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,300 shares of company stock valued at $521,218. 3.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Mercantile Bank Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MBWM opened at $41.69 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.14. The stock has a market cap of $672.96 million, a P/E ratio of 8.37 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. Mercantile Bank Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.46 and a fifty-two week high of $52.98.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.04. Mercantile Bank had a net margin of 22.77% and a return on equity of 14.59%. The company had revenue of $93.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $56.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Mercantile Bank Co. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

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.