Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.22

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FMAO) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 19th, investing.com reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a dividend of 0.22 per share by the financial services provider on Saturday, April 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has raised its dividend by an average of 8.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 50.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Farmers & Merchants Bancorp to earn $1.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.3%.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Price Performance

FMAO traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.31. The stock had a trading volume of 2,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,426. The company has a market cap of $304.75 million, a P/E ratio of 13.35 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a fifty day moving average of $21.39 and a 200 day moving average of $20.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp has a 1 year low of $16.90 and a 1 year high of $27.78.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:FMAO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.09. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 14.62%. The firm had revenue of $23.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.90 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Farmers & Merchants Bancorp will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jo Ellen Hornish bought 3,594 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $20.56 per share, with a total value of $73,892.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 40,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $822,400. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 7.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 88.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp by 84.3% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 4,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 1,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. bought a new stake in Farmers & Merchants Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $94,000. 23.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.