Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) Raises Dividend to $0.37 Per Share

Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of 0.37 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, March 19th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Mercantile Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36.

Mercantile Bank has increased its dividend by an average of 6.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Mercantile Bank has a dividend payout ratio of 31.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Mercantile Bank to earn $4.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.3%.

Mercantile Bank Price Performance

NASDAQ MBWM opened at $47.99 on Friday. Mercantile Bank has a fifty-two week low of $33.46 and a fifty-two week high of $52.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $46.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.40. The firm has a market cap of $775.04 million, a P/E ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.07. Mercantile Bank had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 14.29%. On average, analysts anticipate that Mercantile Bank will post 4.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total value of $198,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,267,951.10. This represents a 13.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 10,300 shares of company stock valued at $521,218 over the last ninety days. 3.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MBWM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Mercantile Bank from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. 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.

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.