Elser Financial Planning Loads Up on Merchants Bancorp Shares Worth $1.1 Billion
Key Points
Elser Financial Planning acquired 26,983,101 shares of Merchants Bancorp in the first quarter; the estimated trade size was $1.10 billion based on quarterly average pricing.
The Merchants Bancorp stake now represents 57.21% of the fund's 13F assets.
Shares of the Indiana-based bank have soared over 40% so far this year.
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Elser Financial Planning disclosed a new position in Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) on April 15, 2026, acquiring 26,983,101 shares in the first quarter. The estimated transaction value was $1.10 billion, based on quarterly average pricing.
What happened
According to an SEC filing dated April 15, 2026, Elser Financial Planning acquired 26,983,101 shares of Merchants Bancorp during the first quarter. The quarter-end value of the new position was $1.18 billion, reflecting both share purchases and price movement over the period.
What else to know
This was a new position for Elser Financial Planning, representing 57.2% of its 13F reportable assets under management after the trade.
Top holdings following the filing:
- Merchants Bancorp: $1.18 billion (57.2% of AUM)
- DFA Dimensional Core Fixed Income ETF: $177.7 million (8.6% of AUM)
- DFA Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF: $89.4 million (4.3% of AUM)
- DFA Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF: $77.2 million (3.7% of AUM)
- DFA Dimensional US Equity Market ETF: $66 million (3.2% of AUM)
As of April 15, 2026, shares of Merchants Bancorp were priced at $46.86, up 46.3% over the past year, outperforming the S&P 500 by 18.61 percentage points.
Company Overview
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Revenue (TTM) | $1.4 billion |
| Net Income (TTM) | $219 million |
| Dividend Yield | 0.87% |
| Price (as of market close 2026-04-15) | $46.86 |
Company Snapshot
- Merchants Bancorp offers multi-family mortgage banking, mortgage warehousing, and a full suite of commercial and consumer banking services, with significant revenue from government-sponsored mortgage origination and servicing.
- The bank generates earnings through interest income, fee-based mortgage banking, loan syndication, and servicing, as well as deposit and lending operations across diversified banking segments.
- It serves real estate developers, healthcare facility operators, non-depository financial institutions, and retail and business banking clients, primarily in the United States.
Merchants Bancorp is a diversified regional financial institution with a core focus on multi-family mortgage banking and commercial lending. The company leverages a specialized approach in government-sponsored mortgage origination and servicing, complemented by robust warehousing and deposit-driven banking operations.
What this transaction means for investors
Elser Financial clearly has a lot of confidence in Merchants Bancorp. The financial planner is based in Indiana along with Merchants. Investment managers may know the business well, and the large purchase appears to be well timed. While it isn’t disclosed when in Q1 Elser bought shares, Merchants stock is at its 2026 high as of this writing.
Merchants also announced a 10% dividend increase on its common stock in February. Investors looking strictly for income may want to look at other banks with higher yields. But the bank’s underlying business has been strong, and the resulting stock price gains have given Merchants stakeholders strong gains this year.
Even with the impressive stock move this year, Merchants still trades for a reasonable 1.3 times book value. While that is generally not considered cheap in the sector, it isn’t unreasonable either. In fact, it’s just slightly above the bank’s three-year average of 1.17.
Elser managers clearly saw value in Merchants Bancorp. It may still represent a good bank stock to add to that section of one’s portfolio, too.
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Howard Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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