Short Interest in Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) Declines By 53.5%

Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 57,100 shares, a decrease of 53.5% from the November 15th total of 122,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 60,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.9 days. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Mercantile Bank from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mercantile Bank news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total value of $198,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,267,951.10. The trade was a 13.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 10,550 shares of company stock valued at $531,660 over the last quarter. 3.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mercantile Bank

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MBWM. Gradient Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Mercantile Bank in the second quarter worth $28,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Mercantile Bank in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Mercantile Bank in the 3rd quarter worth about $89,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 242.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,799 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Mercantile Bank during the third quarter valued at about $202,000. 58.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mercantile Bank Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ MBWM traded down $0.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $49.15. The stock had a trading volume of 60,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 68,005. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.98. Mercantile Bank has a 1 year low of $33.46 and a 1 year high of $52.98. 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 firm has a market cap of $793.38 million, a P/E ratio of 9.87 and a beta of 0.99.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $93.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $56.83 million. Mercantile Bank had a net margin of 22.77% and a return on equity of 14.59%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Mercantile Bank will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercantile Bank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Mercantile Bank’s payout ratio is 28.92%.

Mercantile Bank Company Profile

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.