Barclays PLC Grows Position in Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM)

Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) by 99.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 32,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,423 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Mercantile Bank were worth $1,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Mercantile Bank by 218.8% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 29,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,210,000 after buying an additional 20,465 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Mercantile Bank by 132.9% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 21,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $938,000 after acquiring an additional 12,239 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Mercantile Bank by 108.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 174,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,074,000 after acquiring an additional 90,802 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Mercantile Bank by 83.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 14,263 shares during the period. Finally, De Lisle Partners LLP lifted its stake in shares of Mercantile Bank by 46.9% in the 3rd quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 55,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,417,000 after purchasing an additional 17,649 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 5,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.75, for a total value of $300,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,025,167.50. This represents a 22.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold 10,550 shares of company stock valued at $531,660 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Mercantile Bank from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Mercantile Bank Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MBWM opened at $44.78 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Mercantile Bank Co. has a twelve month low of $33.46 and a twelve month high of $52.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $722.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 0.99.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.04. Mercantile Bank had a return on equity of 14.59% and a net margin of 22.77%. The company had revenue of $93.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $56.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Mercantile Bank Co. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercantile Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Mercantile Bank’s payout ratio is 28.92%.

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.