By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME – Get Free Report) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.60.
FRME has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th.
Get Our Latest Research Report on FRME
First Merchants Price Performance
Shares of First Merchants stock opened at $40.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 13.20 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $41.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.21. First Merchants has a fifty-two week low of $30.55 and a fifty-two week high of $46.13.
First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06). First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The company had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. Analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.
First Merchants Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.20%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total value of $316,955.04. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 92,664 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,052,196.72. This represents a 7.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FRME. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in First Merchants by 108.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in First Merchants during the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 78.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,893 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the second quarter valued at about $79,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.
First Merchants Company Profile
First Merchants Corporation operates as the financial holding company for First Merchants Bank that provides community banking services. The company offers a range of financial services, including time, savings, and demand deposits; and consumer, commercial, agri-business, public finance, and real estate mortgage loans.
See Also
Receive News & Ratings for First Merchants Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for First Merchants and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.