Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) Hits New 12-Month Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) hit a new 52-week low on Thursday after Raymond James lowered their price target on the stock from $53.00 to $45.00. Raymond James currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Merchants Bancorp traded as low as $33.60 and last traded at $34.21, with a volume of 52640 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $37.17.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on MBIN. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Merchants Bancorp from $52.50 to $56.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on 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.

Insider Activity at Merchants Bancorp

In related news, insider Scott A. Evans sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.10, for a total transaction of $1,077,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,606 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,189,818.60. This trade represents a 47.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 39.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MBIN. Elser Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $994,207,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Merchants Bancorp by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 225,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,221,000 after buying an additional 6,882 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Merchants Bancorp by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 566,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,476,000 after buying an additional 16,666 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 448,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,205,000 after acquiring an additional 20,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 351.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,273,000 after acquiring an additional 22,046 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.57% of the company’s stock.

Merchants Bancorp Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $39.98 and its 200-day moving average is $40.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 1.15. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.58. Merchants Bancorp had a net margin of 22.08% and a return on equity of 22.86%. On average, research analysts expect that Merchants Bancorp will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This is a positive change from Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Merchants Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 6.34%.

Merchants Bancorp Company 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.