Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $51.50.

Several brokerages recently commented on MBIN. Raymond James Financial cut Merchants Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Merchants Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Merchants Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Merchants Bancorp in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $49.00 target price (up from $46.00) on shares of Merchants Bancorp in a research report on Monday, June 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Merchants Bancorp news, Director Julia L. Kaercher sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.20, for a total value of $496,800.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 727,103 shares in the company, valued at $40,136,085.60. This represents a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 44.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merchants Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MBIN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,414,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,181,000 after buying an additional 36,184 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Merchants Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at $6,120,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Merchants Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $355,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Merchants Bancorp by 94.9% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 108,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,676,000 after purchasing an additional 53,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 43.7% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 236,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,133,000 after purchasing an additional 71,775 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.57% of the company’s stock.

Merchants Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of MBIN stock opened at $53.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. Merchants Bancorp has a 12 month low of $30.37 and a 12 month high of $56.87. The company has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 1.14.

Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $182.22 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.00 million. Merchants Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 19.80%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merchants Bancorp will post 5.58 EPS for the current year.

Merchants Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Merchants Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 8.84%.

About Merchants Bancorp

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.