First Trust Advisors LP Increases Position in Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN)

First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN - Free Report) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 136,329 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,056 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.30% of Merchants Bancorp worth $4,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Merchants Bancorp by 351.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,273,000 after acquiring an additional 22,046 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 85.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 33,338 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,504,000 after purchasing an additional 15,342 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 730.8% in 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 period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Merchants Bancorp by 51.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 112,712 shares of the company's stock worth $4,111,000 after buying an additional 38,453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Merchants Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $293,000. 24.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Merchants Bancorp from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $41.00 price objective (down from $45.00) on shares of Merchants Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Merchants Bancorp from $52.50 to $56.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th.

Merchants Bancorp Price Performance

MBIN traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $31.10. 157,104 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 191,755. The business's 50-day moving average price is $35.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 1.31. Merchants Bancorp has a 1-year low of $27.25 and a 1-year high of $53.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 during 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 analysts anticipate that Merchants Bancorp will post 5.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. This is a positive change from Merchants Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Merchants Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.35%.

Merchants Bancorp 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.