Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 202,600 shares, a decline of 8.8% from the September 15th total of 222,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 33,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FMAO. Mendel Money Management increased its position in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 239.4% in the first quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 144,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,227,000 after acquiring an additional 248,586 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 11.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 118,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,744,000 after buying an additional 12,223 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 583,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,010,000 after buying an additional 12,195 shares during the last quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH acquired a new position in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp during the first quarter worth approximately $41,525,000. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new position in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp during the third quarter worth approximately $220,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 23.96% of the company’s stock.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of FMAO traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $28.49. The stock had a trading volume of 13,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,623. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.93. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a twelve month low of $16.90 and a twelve month high of $28.76. The firm has a market cap of $389.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.92 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:FMAO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $44.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.39 million. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.79% and a net margin of 12.59%. On average, analysts anticipate that Farmers & Merchants Bancorp will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a $0.221 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. This is an increase from Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Farmers & Merchants Bancorp from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Company Profile

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for The Farmers & Merchants State Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals and small businesses in Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana. The company offers checking, savings, and time deposit accounts; certificates of deposit; and custodial services for individual retirement and health savings accounts.