Dark Forest Capital Management LP Increases Stake in Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP boosted its position in Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN - Free Report) by 303.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,516 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,926 shares during the quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP's holdings in Merchants Bancorp were worth $675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MBIN. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merchants Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in shares of Merchants Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Matrix Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 730.8% during the fourth quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 2,642 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 2,324 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 118.9% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,559 shares of the company's stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 1,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inceptionr LLC grew its stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Inceptionr LLC now owns 5,718 shares of the company's stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 687 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.57% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MBIN. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Merchants Bancorp from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $41.00 price objective (down from $45.00) on shares of Merchants Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Merchants Bancorp from $52.50 to $56.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th.

Merchants Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MBIN traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $30.41. 54,183 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 191,837. Merchants Bancorp has a one year low of $27.25 and a one year high of $53.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $36.17 and a 200 day moving average of $38.54. The company has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.15.

Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by ($0.32). The company had revenue of $287.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $169.00 million. Merchants Bancorp had a net margin of 22.08% and a return on equity of 22.86%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merchants Bancorp will post 5.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This is an increase from Merchants Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Merchants Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 6.34%.

Merchants Bancorp Company Profile

Merchants Bancorp operates as the diversified bank holding company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Multi-family Mortgage Banking, Mortgage Warehousing, and Banking. The Multi-family Mortgage Banking segment engages in the mortgage banking, which originates and services government sponsored mortgages, including bridge financing products to refinance, acquire, or reposition multi-family housing projects, and construction lending for multi-family and healthcare facilities.