Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) Short Interest Down 6.9% in January

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 96,500 shares, a decline of 6.9% from the January 15th total of 103,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 24,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 652,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,224,000 after buying an additional 9,200 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 289,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,011,000 after buying an additional 4,318 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 241,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,665,000 after buying an additional 9,306 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 163,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,806,000 after acquiring an additional 17,339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 106,445 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. 23.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Trading Down 0.7 %

FMAO traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $26.23. 10,508 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,184. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $28.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.13. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a 52-week low of $18.99 and a 52-week high of $34.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $359.35 million, a PE ratio of 15.43 and a beta of 0.68.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:FMAO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.13. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 13.16%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Farmers & Merchants Bancorp will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.2213 dividend. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. This is a boost from Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.77%.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Company Profile

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of commercial banking, retail banking, and financial services. It includes commercial, agricultural, and residential mortgages as well as consumer and credit card lending activities. The firm also offers checking account services, and savings and time deposit services.