Victory Capital Management Inc. Acquires 410 Shares of Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM)

Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 17,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 410 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Mercantile Bank were worth $781,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MBWM. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 3.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 1.7% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 40,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,784,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Mercantile Bank by 83.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 31,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,368,000 after acquiring an additional 14,263 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mercantile Bank by 4.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 196,324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,583,000 after acquiring an additional 8,413 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mercantile Bank by 132.9% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 21,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $938,000 after acquiring an additional 12,239 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Mercantile Bank

In related news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.16, for a total value of $150,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $692,709.60. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock worth $371,910. Company insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MBWM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Mercantile Bank from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Hovde Group upgraded Mercantile Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $54.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Mercantile Bank Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MBWM opened at $44.54 on Friday. Mercantile Bank Co. has a 12-month low of $33.46 and a 12-month high of $52.98. The stock has a market cap of $722.93 million, a PE ratio of 9.00 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average of $46.94 and a 200-day moving average of $46.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.07. Mercantile Bank had a return on equity of 14.29% and a net margin of 21.99%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mercantile Bank Co. will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercantile Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.37 dividend. This is a boost from Mercantile Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Mercantile Bank’s payout ratio is 29.90%.

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.