Picton Mahoney Asset Management Acquires Shares of 653 Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM)

Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 99.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 32,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after purchasing an additional 16,423 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 3.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 376,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,484,000 after buying an additional 14,202 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 132.9% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 21,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $938,000 after buying an additional 12,239 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 35.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 82,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,601,000 after buying an additional 21,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 83.7% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 31,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,368,000 after buying an additional 14,263 shares in the last quarter. 58.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mercantile Bank

In other Mercantile Bank news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 3,000 shares of Mercantile Bank stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 13,810 shares in the company, valued at $692,709.60. This trade represents a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 7,500 shares of company stock worth $371,910 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MBWM has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Mercantile Bank from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Hovde Group raised shares of Mercantile Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $54.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Mercantile Bank Price Performance

Mercantile Bank stock opened at $44.58 on Tuesday. Mercantile Bank Co. has a 12-month low of $33.46 and a 12-month high of $52.98. The stock has a market cap of $723.58 million, a P/E ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

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

Mercantile Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Mercantile Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Mercantile Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.90%.

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.