Mercantile Bank Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.35 (NASDAQ:MBWM)

Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 16th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.35 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, June 19th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th.

Mercantile Bank has increased its dividend by an average of 6.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Mercantile Bank has a dividend payout ratio of 31.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Mercantile Bank to earn $4.38 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.0%.

Mercantile Bank Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of MBWM stock traded down $0.52 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $33.62. 104,898 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 77,476. Mercantile Bank has a 12 month low of $23.89 and a 12 month high of $42.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $36.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.60. The stock has a market cap of $541.95 million, a PE ratio of 6.55 and a beta of 0.97.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $58.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.20 million. Mercantile Bank had a net margin of 27.09% and a return on equity of 16.85%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mercantile Bank will post 4.55 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Mercantile Bank

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MBWM. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 2.7% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,666 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 45,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,415,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Mercantile Bank by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 9,191 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Mercantile Bank by 1.3% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,586 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $928,000 after buying an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Mercantile Bank by 0.3% in the second quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 184,252 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,089,000 after buying an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. 58.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Hovde Group cut shares of Mercantile Bank from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Mercantile Bank in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Mercantile Bank from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th.

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.