Insider Selling: Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) Director Sells 250 Shares of Stock

Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.14, for a total transaction of $10,785.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 78,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,375,101.04. This trade represents a 0.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Mercantile Bank Stock Performance

MBWM opened at $39.45 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $640.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.97 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a fifty day moving average of $46.57 and a 200 day moving average of $46.10. Mercantile Bank Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.46 and a fifty-two week high of $52.98.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mercantile Bank Co. will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercantile Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.37 dividend. This is an increase from Mercantile Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. Mercantile Bank’s payout ratio is presently 29.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MBWM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on 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 Mercantile Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $54.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in Mercantile Bank in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Mercantile Bank in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Mercantile Bank during the 3rd quarter valued at about $89,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Mercantile Bank in the 4th quarter valued at about $102,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Mercantile Bank in the 4th quarter valued at about $133,000. 58.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Mercantile Bank

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.