Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM – Get Rating) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday.

MBWM has been the topic of a number of other reports. Raymond James lowered shares of Mercantile Bank from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Mercantile Bank from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and increased their price target for the company from $38.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday.

Mercantile Bank Price Performance

NASDAQ MBWM opened at $34.81 on Tuesday. Mercantile Bank has a 52 week low of $29.26 and a 52 week high of $39.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $552.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $34.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.60.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $58.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.70 million. Mercantile Bank had a net margin of 28.55% and a return on equity of 14.29%. Analysts forecast that Mercantile Bank will post 4.46 EPS for the current year.

Mercantile Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a positive change from Mercantile Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. Mercantile Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mercantile Bank

In other Mercantile Bank news, Director David B. Ramaker acquired 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $33.33 per share, with a total value of $49,995.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,442.02. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 3.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mercantile Bank

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. North Star Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Mercantile Bank by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 317,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,642,000 after purchasing an additional 7,321 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Mercantile Bank in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Truist Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Mercantile Bank in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $283,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Mercantile Bank by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 9,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mercantile Bank during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 55.50% of the company’s stock.

Mercantile Bank Company Profile

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Mercantile Bank Corp. operates as a bank holding company for Mercantile Bank of Michigan. It offers checking and savings accounts, credit and debit cards, mobile and Internet banking, business loans, mobile wallet, health savings account, and treasury management services. The company was founded on July 15, 1997 and is headquartered in Grand Rapids, MI.