Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) Sees Large Volume Increase on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. Approximately 150,810 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 25% from the previous session’s volume of 120,192 shares.The stock last traded at $40.36 and had previously closed at $39.27.

The company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.43. Merchants Bancorp had a return on equity of 27.51% and a net margin of 23.55%. The company had revenue of $355.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.15 million.

Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Merchants Bancorp’s payout ratio is 5.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Raymond James raised their price target on Merchants Bancorp from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 16,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,683 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at about $584,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 8.8% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 138,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,963,000 after purchasing an additional 11,212 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Merchants Bancorp by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 81,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,511,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Merchants Bancorp by 27.8% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 81,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,509,000 after acquiring an additional 17,685 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.57% of the company’s stock.

Merchants Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.17 and a 200-day moving average of $38.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 1.18.

About Merchants Bancorp

Merchants Bancorp operates as the diversified bank holding company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Multi-family Mortgage Banking, Mortgage Warehousing, and Banking. The Multi-family Mortgage Banking segment engages in the mortgage banking, which originates and services government sponsored mortgages, including bridge financing products to refinance, acquire, or reposition multi-family housing projects, and construction lending for multi-family and healthcare facilities.