Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.37

Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 16th, 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 3.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost 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 raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Mercantile Bank has a payout ratio of 29.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Mercantile Bank to earn $4.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.7%.

Mercantile Bank Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MBWM opened at $46.37 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $748.69 million, a P/E ratio of 9.37 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $46.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.14. Mercantile Bank has a twelve month low of $33.46 and a twelve month high of $52.98.

Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.07. Mercantile Bank had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 14.29%. On average, research analysts forecast that Mercantile Bank will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Mercantile Bank

In other news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.22, for a total value of $50,220.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,810 shares in the company, valued at $593,098.20. This represents a 7.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 7,250 shares of company stock valued at $359,883 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Hovde Group upgraded 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 report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Mercantile Bank from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd.

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.