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

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) saw a large decrease in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 96,500 shares, a decrease of 6.9% from the January 15th total of 103,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 24,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FMAO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 652,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,224,000 after buying an additional 9,200 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 289,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,011,000 after purchasing an additional 4,318 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 4.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 241,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,665,000 after purchasing an additional 9,306 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 163,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,806,000 after purchasing an additional 17,339 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 106,445 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 23.96% of the company’s stock.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Trading Down 0.3 %

FMAO opened at $26.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $358.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.76 and a beta of 0.68. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.13. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a 1-year low of $18.99 and a 1-year high of $34.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:FMAO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.13. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp had a return on equity of 7.97% and a net margin of 14.48%. Analysts expect that Farmers & Merchants Bancorp will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.2213 per share. This is a boost from Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 46.32%.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Company Profile

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of commercial banking, retail banking, and financial services. It includes commercial, agricultural, and residential mortgages as well as consumer and credit card lending activities. The firm also offers checking account services, and savings and time deposit services.