Sapient Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN)

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 80,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,414,000. Sapient Capital LLC owned about 0.19% of Merchants Bancorp as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MBIN. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Merchants Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $424,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Merchants Bancorp by 104.6% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 62,669 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,668,000 after acquiring an additional 32,034 shares during the period. Semanteon Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Merchants Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $610,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in shares of Merchants Bancorp by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 15,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the period. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its position in Merchants Bancorp by 94.6% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 109,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,672,000 after buying an additional 53,333 shares in the last quarter. 24.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Merchants Bancorp from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $58.50 price objective (up from $53.00) on shares of Merchants Bancorp in a research note on Friday.

Merchants Bancorp Trading Up 6.6 %

NASDAQ:MBIN traded up $2.85 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $45.87. The stock had a trading volume of 210,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 142,457. The business’s 50 day moving average is $41.29 and its 200-day moving average is $38.71. The company has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.20 and a beta of 1.17. Merchants Bancorp has a one year low of $21.50 and a one year high of $48.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $355.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.15 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merchants Bancorp will post 6.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Merchants Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 5.65%.

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.