First Merchants’ (FRME) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $45.00 price target on the bank’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price points to a potential upside of 14.88% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on FRME. Hovde Group began coverage on First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Stephens lowered shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First Merchants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.20.

First Merchants Stock Up 1.8 %

First Merchants stock traded up $0.70 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $39.17. The company had a trading volume of 18,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 251,170. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $36.03 and its 200-day moving average is $34.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28 and a beta of 1.04. First Merchants has a fifty-two week low of $25.70 and a fifty-two week high of $42.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.10). First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 17.77%. The firm had revenue of $267.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.02 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that First Merchants will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Patrick J. Fehring sold 23,936 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.51, for a total transaction of $778,159.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 122,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,989,172.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Merchants

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Waterfront Wealth Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 26,433 shares of the bank’s stock worth $880,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 3.2% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,614 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $353,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in First Merchants by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $233,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 25.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,510 shares of the bank’s stock worth $130,000 after acquiring an additional 704 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About First Merchants

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.