Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) Shares Gap Up on Earnings Beat

Shares of Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $34.95, but opened at $37.31. Merchants Bancorp shares last traded at $39.06, with a volume of 105,134 shares.

The company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $193.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.80 million. Merchants Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 17.73%.

Merchants Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Merchants Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.20%.

Merchants Bancorp announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 28th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 6.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Merchants Bancorp News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Merchants Bancorp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat analyst estimates — Merchants reported EPS of $1.28 vs. the $0.94 consensus and revenue of $193.49M vs. $170.8M expected, with a net margin of 17.7% and ROE of 15.2%, which supports near-term earnings outlook. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Board approved a $100M stock repurchase program — authorization covers up to ~6.2% of outstanding shares through Dec 31, 2027, which can be accretive to EPS and is a signal management views the shares as undervalued. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Balance sheet and asset-quality improvement — the company reported another sequential increase in net income, improved asset quality, and total assets of $19.4B (up 3% YoY), reinforcing a constructive operating trajectory into 2026. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary and metric breakdowns are being published — coverage (Zacks, Yahoo) is digging into key metrics vs. estimates and historicals, useful for modeling but not changing the headline beat. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Media earnings snapshots summarizing the beat and company commentary are circulating — useful for sentiment flow but largely repeating company disclosures. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EPS declined year-over-year despite beating estimates — Q4 EPS of $1.28 compares with $1.85 in the year-ago quarter, a reminder of earnings volatility year over year. Read More.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MBIN. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Merchants Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Merchants Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Merchants Bancorp in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price target (up previously from $41.00) on shares of Merchants Bancorp in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Merchants Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.25.

Institutional Trading of Merchants Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Inspire Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $390,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Merchants Bancorp by 10.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 567,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,783,000 after acquiring an additional 55,038 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Merchants Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,529,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Merchants Bancorp by 17.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 681,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,539,000 after buying an additional 101,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 4.9% in the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 236,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,819,000 after buying an additional 10,998 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.57% of the company’s stock.

Merchants Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.21 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $34.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.01.

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.