Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) saw a large drop in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 222,200 shares, a drop of 7.8% from the August 31st total of 241,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 37,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.9 days.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of FMAO traded down $1.49 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $26.16. The stock had a trading volume of 25,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,352. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a 12 month low of $16.90 and a 12 month high of $28.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $357.92 million, a PE ratio of 17.39 and a beta of 0.63. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.49.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:FMAO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.05. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.79% and a net margin of 12.59%. The firm had revenue of $44.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.39 million. Research analysts expect that Farmers & Merchants Bancorp will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.221 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This is a positive change from Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s payout ratio is 55.35%.

Institutional Trading of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 2.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 583,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,010,000 after acquiring an additional 12,195 shares during the last quarter. Mendel Money Management grew its holdings in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 239.4% in the first quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 144,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,227,000 after purchasing an additional 248,586 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 118,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,744,000 after buying an additional 12,223 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 9.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 54,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,266,000 after acquiring an additional 4,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH bought a new stake in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $41,525,000. Institutional investors own 23.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

About Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for The Farmers & Merchants State Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals and small businesses in Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana. The company offers checking, savings, and time deposit accounts; certificates of deposit; and custodial services for individual retirement and health savings accounts.