Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) Sees Strong Trading Volume Following Earnings Beat

Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) saw unusually-high trading volume on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. Approximately 150,810 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 25% from the previous session’s volume of 120,192 shares.The stock last traded at $40.36 and had previously closed at $39.27.

The company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.43. Merchants Bancorp had a return on equity of 27.51% and a net margin of 23.55%. The firm had revenue of $355.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.15 million.

Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. This is an increase from Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Merchants Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 5.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Merchants Bancorp from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merchants Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 944,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,173,000 after acquiring an additional 12,628 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 795,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,869,000 after buying an additional 102,051 shares during the last quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 527,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,469,000 after buying an additional 18,000 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 224,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,563,000 after buying an additional 39,248 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 42,253.6% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 217,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,252,000 after acquiring an additional 216,761 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.57% of the company’s stock.

Merchants Bancorp Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.17 and a 200-day moving average of $38.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a PE ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 1.18.

Merchants Bancorp Company Profile

Merchants Bancorp operates as the diversified bank holding company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Multi-family Mortgage Banking, Mortgage Warehousing, and Banking. The Multi-family Mortgage Banking segment engages in the mortgage banking, which originates and services government sponsored mortgages, including bridge financing products to refinance, acquire, or reposition multi-family housing projects, and construction lending for multi-family and healthcare facilities.