Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 82,100 shares, a decline of 41.7% from the January 31st total of 140,800 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 72,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Mercantile Bank Trading Down 0.1 %

MBWM traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $46.31. The stock had a trading volume of 70,212 shares, compared to its average volume of 63,810. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $46.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $747.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.36 and a beta of 0.98. Mercantile Bank has a 1-year low of $33.46 and a 1-year high of $52.98.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.07. Mercantile Bank had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 14.29%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mercantile Bank will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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Mercantile Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. This is a boost from Mercantile Bank's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Mercantile Bank's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.90%.

Insider Activity at Mercantile Bank

In other news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.22, for a total transaction of $50,220.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $593,098.20. This represents a 7.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $371,910 over the last quarter. 3.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mercantile Bank

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 16,423 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 376,979 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $16,484,000 after buying an additional 14,202 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 132.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 21,451 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $938,000 after buying an additional 12,239 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 82,357 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,601,000 after buying an additional 21,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 83.7% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 31,301 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,368,000 after buying an additional 14,263 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.63% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MBWM shares. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Mercantile Bank from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $54.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Mercantile Bank from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

About Mercantile Bank

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.