Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) Position Increased by Freedom Investment Management Inc.

Freedom Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) by 31.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,597 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,588 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Merchants Bancorp were worth $241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MBIN. Banc Funds Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 400,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,610,000 after buying an additional 11,000 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Merchants Bancorp by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 246,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,004,000 after acquiring an additional 16,425 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Merchants Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $391,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 31,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merchants Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $2,095,000. 24.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Scott A. Evans sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.10, for a total transaction of $1,077,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,606 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,189,818.60. The trade was a 47.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 34.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MBIN. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Merchants Bancorp from $53.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Merchants Bancorp from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Merchants Bancorp from $52.50 to $56.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th.

Merchants Bancorp Stock Up 3.7 %

MBIN stock opened at $32.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.96. Merchants Bancorp has a 52-week low of $30.73 and a 52-week high of $53.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.58. Merchants Bancorp had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 22.08%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merchants Bancorp will post 5.54 EPS for the current year.

Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This is an increase from Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Merchants Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.34%.

Merchants Bancorp Company Profile

Merchants Bancorp operates as the diversified bank holding company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Multi-family Mortgage Banking, Mortgage Warehousing, and Banking. The Multi-family Mortgage Banking segment engages in the mortgage banking, which originates and services government sponsored mortgages, including bridge financing products to refinance, acquire, or reposition multi-family housing projects, and construction lending for multi-family and healthcare facilities.