Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reiterates Outperform Rating for Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM)

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $47.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 36.11% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on MBWM. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded Mercantile Bank from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Hovde Group lowered Mercantile Bank from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th.

Mercantile Bank Stock Performance

MBWM stock opened at $34.53 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $36.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.57. The company has a market capitalization of $556.62 million, a P/E ratio of 6.69 and a beta of 0.97. Mercantile Bank has a 1-year low of $23.89 and a 1-year high of $42.82.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.03. Mercantile Bank had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 25.58%. The company had revenue of $56.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $56.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mercantile Bank will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mercantile Bank

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Mercantile Bank by 95.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 70,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,859,000 after purchasing an additional 34,567 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mercantile Bank by 3.9% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 9,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Mercantile Bank by 6.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 35,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mercantile Bank by 1.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 799,865 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,724,000 after purchasing an additional 13,400 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mercantile Bank during the third quarter worth about $242,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.63% of the company’s stock.

Mercantile Bank Company 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.