Short Interest in Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) Drops By 35.5%

Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 1,664,272 shares, a drop of 35.5% from the March 15th total of 2,582,239 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 235,367 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.1 days. Approximately 5.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Merchants Bancorp from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded Merchants Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Merchants Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merchants Bancorp has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merchants Bancorp news, insider Martin A. Schroeter sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.06, for a total transaction of $253,330.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 10,881 shares in the company, valued at $501,178.86. This trade represents a 33.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 34.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Merchants Bancorp by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,656,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,433,000 after purchasing an additional 54,970 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Merchants Bancorp by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,414,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,181,000 after purchasing an additional 36,184 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP increased its holdings in Merchants Bancorp by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 862,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,415,000 after purchasing an additional 79,707 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Merchants Bancorp by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 715,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,371,000 after purchasing an additional 18,925 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Merchants Bancorp by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 630,077 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,036,000 after purchasing an additional 62,097 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.57% of the company’s stock.

Merchants Bancorp Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of MBIN traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $47.52. The company had a trading volume of 295,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 200,827. The firm has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. Merchants Bancorp has a 52-week low of $27.25 and a 52-week high of $48.50.

Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $185.29 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.80 million. Merchants Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 16.02%. On average, research analysts predict that Merchants Bancorp will post 5.54 EPS for the current year.

Merchants Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 28th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 6.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Merchants Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.64%.

Merchants Bancorp Company Profile

Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ: MBIN) is the bank holding company for Merchants Bank, a regional financial institution headquartered in Buffalo, New York. Through its network of branches and digital platforms, the company offers a range of banking services across western and central New York. Merchants Bancorp operates as a full?service commercial bank, serving small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, families and individuals in its core markets.

The company’s primary activities include deposit taking, commercial and consumer lending, mortgage origination, and treasury management services.