Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) Short Interest Update

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 202,600 shares, a decline of 8.8% from the September 15th total of 222,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 33,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH bought a new stake in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $41,525,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 79.7% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,459 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,864 shares in the last quarter. Mendel Money Management lifted its position in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 239.4% in the 1st quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 144,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,227,000 after purchasing an additional 248,586 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 583,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,010,000 after purchasing an additional 12,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 9.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 54,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,266,000 after buying an additional 4,765 shares during the period. 23.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Farmers & Merchants Bancorp from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Trading Down 0.9 %

FMAO stock traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $28.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,623. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $389.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.92 and a beta of 0.63. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a 1 year low of $16.90 and a 1 year high of $28.76.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:FMAO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $44.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.39 million. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp had a net margin of 12.59% and a return on equity of 6.79%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Farmers & Merchants Bancorp will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a dividend of $0.221 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This is a positive change from Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s payout ratio is 55.35%.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Company Profile

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for The Farmers & Merchants State Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals and small businesses in Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana. The company offers checking, savings, and time deposit accounts; certificates of deposit; and custodial services for individual retirement and health savings accounts.