Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Increases Holdings in Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Mercantile Bank Co. (NASDAQ:MBWM) by 46.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,568 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned 0.28% of Mercantile Bank worth $2,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Mercantile Bank by 99.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 32,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 16,423 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mercantile Bank by 3.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 376,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,484,000 after purchasing an additional 14,202 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Mercantile Bank by 132.9% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 21,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 12,239 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 35.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 82,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,601,000 after purchasing an additional 21,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 287,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,790,000 after purchasing an additional 40,055 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MBWM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Hovde Group upgraded Mercantile Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $54.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Mercantile Bank from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Mercantile Bank Stock Down 0.2 %

MBWM opened at $44.48 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $46.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02. Mercantile Bank Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.46 and a fifty-two week high of $52.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $721.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Mercantile Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This is a positive change from Mercantile Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Mercantile Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.90%.

Insider Activity at Mercantile Bank

In other Mercantile Bank news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.16, for a total transaction of $150,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $692,709.60. This represents a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $371,910. 3.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.