Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.37 Per Share

Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of 0.37 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, March 19th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Mercantile Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36.

Mercantile Bank has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Mercantile Bank has a payout ratio of 31.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Mercantile Bank to earn $4.50 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.0%.

Mercantile Bank Stock Performance

MBWM traded up $1.76 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $48.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 114,830 shares, compared to its average volume of 62,116. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.36. The stock has a market cap of $783.11 million, a P/E ratio of 9.74 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Mercantile Bank has a twelve month low of $33.46 and a twelve month high of $52.98.

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 14.59% and a net margin of 22.77%. Research analysts expect that Mercantile Bank will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total value of $198,040.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,267,951.10. The trade was a 13.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,300 shares of company stock worth $521,218. Corporate insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MBWM shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Mercantile Bank from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Hovde Group raised shares of Mercantile Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday.

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.