Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) Shares Bought by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 70,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,114 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Mercantile Bank were worth $3,116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MBWM. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in Mercantile Bank in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in shares of Mercantile Bank by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 2,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Mercantile Bank in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $133,000. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new position in shares of Mercantile Bank in the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Mercantile Bank in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $202,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Mercantile Bank Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of MBWM stock opened at $41.12 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $667.42 million, a P/E ratio of 8.31 and a beta of 0.86. Mercantile Bank Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.46 and a fifty-two week high of $52.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $45.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.94.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.07. Mercantile Bank had a return on equity of 14.29% and a net margin of 21.99%. Equities research analysts predict that Mercantile Bank Co. will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercantile Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. This is a positive change from Mercantile Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Mercantile Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.90%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.16, for a total transaction of $150,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $692,709.60. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,750 shares of company stock worth $382,695. 3.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mercantile Bank 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.