Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) Shares Gap Up - What's Next?

Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM - Get Free Report) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $43.46, but opened at $46.80. Mercantile Bank shares last traded at $44.71, with a volume of 4,132 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Mercantile Bank from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Mercantile Bank Trading Up 2.1 %

The company has a market cap of $716.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.91 and a beta of 1.01. The business's 50 day moving average price is $47.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.04. Mercantile Bank had a return on equity of 14.59% and a net margin of 22.77%. The company had revenue of $93.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $56.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Mercantile Bank Co. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,267,951.10. The trade was a 13.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 10,300 shares of company stock worth $521,218 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.08% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MBWM. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Mercantile Bank in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,646,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 35.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 82,357 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,601,000 after acquiring an additional 21,411 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Mercantile Bank by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,611 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,123 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 99.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 32,981 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,441,000 after buying an additional 16,423 shares during the period. 58.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.