Rhumbline Advisers Grows Stock Position in Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM)

Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,432 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.16% of Mercantile Bank worth $1,131,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Mercantile Bank by 5.3% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 52,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,309,000 after acquiring an additional 2,680 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in 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 last quarter. 58.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Mercantile Bank

In other Mercantile Bank news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.16, for a total transaction of $150,480.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,810 shares in the company, valued at $692,709.60. This represents a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $371,910. 3.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Mercantile Bank Price Performance

MBWM stock opened at $46.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02. Mercantile Bank Co. has a 1 year low of $33.46 and a 1 year high of $52.98. The firm has a market cap of $747.72 million, a P/E ratio of 9.36 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.16.

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

Mercantile Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Mercantile Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. Mercantile Bank’s payout ratio is currently 29.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MBWM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Mercantile Bank from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Hovde Group upgraded Mercantile Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $54.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd.

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.