Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 202,600 shares, a decline of 8.8% from the September 15th total of 222,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 33,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 583,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,010,000 after buying an additional 12,195 shares in the last quarter. Mendel Money Management increased its holdings in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 239.4% during the first quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 144,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,227,000 after buying an additional 248,586 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 11.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 118,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,744,000 after buying an additional 12,223 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 9.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 54,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,266,000 after buying an additional 4,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH acquired a new position in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp during the first quarter worth $41,525,000. 23.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Price Performance

FMAO traded down $0.27 during trading on Thursday, hitting $28.49. 13,029 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 26,623. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a twelve month low of $16.90 and a twelve month high of $28.76. The company has a market cap of $389.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.92 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $26.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.93.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:FMAO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.05. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp had a net margin of 12.59% and a return on equity of 6.79%. The business had revenue of $44.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.39 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Farmers & Merchants Bancorp will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.221 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This is an increase from Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 55.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Company Profile

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for The Farmers & Merchants State Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals and small businesses in Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana. The company offers checking, savings, and time deposit accounts; certificates of deposit; and custodial services for individual retirement and health savings accounts.