Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Mercantile Bank Corporation (NASDAQ:MBWM) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $63.41 and last traded at $62.1550, with a volume of 14,339 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $61.56.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MBWM. Weiss Ratings lowered Mercantile Bank from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler set a $65.00 price target on Mercantile Bank in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Mercantile Bank in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Hovde Group downgraded Mercantile Bank from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Mercantile Bank from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.20.

Mercantile Bank Trading Up 0.7%

The business has a fifty day moving average of $59.80 and a 200-day moving average of $55.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.03 and a beta of 0.82.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.07. Mercantile Bank had a net margin of 24.42% and a return on equity of 13.37%. The business had revenue of $73.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.84 million. Analysts anticipate that Mercantile Bank Corporation will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercantile Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Mercantile Bank’s dividend payout ratio is 28.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Mercantile Bank during the second quarter worth $88,105,000. North Star Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Mercantile Bank during the 2nd quarter valued at $21,672,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Mercantile Bank during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,633,000. De Lisle Partners LLP bought a new position in Mercantile Bank during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,346,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 78,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,988,000 after acquiring an additional 5,091 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.63% of the company’s stock.

About Mercantile Bank

Mercantile Bank Corporation is a bank holding company that operates through its subsidiary, Mercantile Bank. Headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the bank serves businesses, individuals and organizations primarily across Michigan.

Mercantile Bank offers commercial and retail banking products, including business loans, commercial real estate and construction financing, lines of credit, residential mortgage lending, consumer loans, deposit accounts and cash-management services. Its treasury-management offerings are designed to support businesses with payment processing, liquidity management and related banking needs.

Founded in 1997, Mercantile Bank has developed a community-banking model focused on relationship-based service and local decision-making.