Short Interest in Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) Expands By 20.0%

Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 826,000 shares, a growth of 20.0% from the January 15th total of 688,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 166,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.0 days. Approximately 4.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Scott A. Evans sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.10, for a total transaction of $1,077,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,189,818.60. This represents a 47.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Patrick D. O’brien purchased 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.00 per share, with a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 40,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,000,000. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 39.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $573,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 9.4% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 47,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,747,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Inceptionr LLC grew its position in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Inceptionr LLC now owns 5,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merchants Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. 24.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MBIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $53.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Merchants Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Merchants Bancorp from $52.50 to $56.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th.

Merchants Bancorp Stock Performance

MBIN stock traded up $0.52 during trading on Friday, reaching $43.19. The company had a trading volume of 95,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 180,733. Merchants Bancorp has a twelve month low of $34.16 and a twelve month high of $53.27. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 1.15.

Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.58. Merchants Bancorp had a net margin of 22.08% and a return on equity of 22.86%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merchants Bancorp will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Merchants Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Merchants Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.71%.

Merchants Bancorp Company Profile

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.