Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM)

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $47.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

MBWM has been the topic of several other research reports. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded Mercantile Bank from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Hovde Group lowered Mercantile Bank from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th.

Mercantile Bank Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MBWM opened at $36.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $36.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.60. Mercantile Bank has a 52 week low of $23.89 and a 52 week high of $42.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $581.45 million, a PE ratio of 6.99 and a beta of 0.97.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $56.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $56.00 million. Mercantile Bank had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 25.58%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Mercantile Bank will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercantile Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. Mercantile Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.13%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mercantile Bank

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 2.7% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 0.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 45,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,415,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 3.9% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 9,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 9.2% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,660 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 9,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.63% of the company’s stock.

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.