West Michigan Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Mercantile Bank Corporation (NASDAQ:MBWM)

Key Points

• West Michigan Advisors LLC acquired 5,887 shares of Mercantile Bank Corporation in the 1st quarter, valued at approximately $256,000.
• Several institutional investors have increased their stakes in Mercantile Bank, with Deutsche Bank AG raising its holdings by 48.7% in the fourth quarter.
• Mercantile Bank recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, reflecting a total annualized dividend of $1.52 with a yield of 3.4%.

West Michigan Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Mercantile Bank Corporation (NASDAQ:MBWM - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,887 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sei Investments Co. bought a new position in Mercantile Bank in the fourth quarter worth about $201,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Mercantile Bank in the fourth quarter worth about $133,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Mercantile Bank by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 10,841 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $482,000 after buying an additional 1,622 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Mercantile Bank by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 869,777 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $38,696,000 after buying an additional 2,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Mercantile Bank by 48.8% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 122,532 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,451,000 after buying an additional 40,175 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.63% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MBWM shares. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Mercantile Bank from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Mercantile Bank from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Mercantile Bank from $47.50 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd.

Mercantile Bank Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:MBWM traded up $0.48 during trading on Friday, reaching $44.53. 38,556 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 82,179. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $46.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.39. Mercantile Bank Corporation has a 52-week low of $37.76 and a 52-week high of $52.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $723.61 million, a P/E ratio of 8.84 and a beta of 0.92.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.16. Mercantile Bank had a net margin of 22.11% and a return on equity of 13.52%. The firm had revenue of $60.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.02 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mercantile Bank Corporation will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercantile Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. This is a positive change from Mercantile Bank's previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. Mercantile Bank's payout ratio is currently 29.37%.

Mercantile Bank 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.