Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Positive Forecast for Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) Stock Price

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) had its target price hoisted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $50.00 to $56.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Mercantile Bank Stock Performance

MBWM stock opened at $50.85 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $45.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $820.82 million, a PE ratio of 10.21 and a beta of 0.99. Mercantile Bank has a 1-year low of $33.46 and a 1-year high of $52.98.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $93.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $56.83 million. Mercantile Bank had a return on equity of 14.59% and a net margin of 22.77%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mercantile Bank will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercantile Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Mercantile Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.92%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 5,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.75, for a total value of $300,150.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,810 shares in the company, valued at $1,025,167.50. The trade was a 22.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 10,550 shares of company stock worth $531,660 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mercantile Bank

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mercantile Bank by 3.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mercantile Bank by 0.5% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 75,720 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,310,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Mercantile Bank by 16.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Mercantile Bank by 10.1% in the third quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP now owns 5,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Mercantile Bank by 2.7% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 25,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. 58.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.