Short Interest in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) Drops By 9.7%

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) saw a large decline in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 120,000 shares, a decline of 9.7% from the October 31st total of 132,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 23,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.1 days.

Institutional Trading of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $55,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $123,000. Perritt Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 40.0% during the second quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 7,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $163,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new stake in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth $245,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 23.96% of the company’s stock.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of FMAO traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $32.43. The stock had a trading volume of 14,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,551. The firm has a market cap of $444.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.08 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business’s fifty day moving average is $29.34 and its 200 day moving average is $26.14. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a 52-week low of $18.99 and a 52-week high of $34.15.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:FMAO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $45.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.93 million. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp had a net margin of 13.16% and a return on equity of 7.16%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Farmers & Merchants Bancorp will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.221 dividend. This is a positive change from Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.