First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.60.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on FRME shares. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

First Merchants Trading Up 0.6 %

FRME stock opened at $40.35 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.18. First Merchants has a fifty-two week low of $30.55 and a fifty-two week high of $46.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. Analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $316,955.04. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 92,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,052,196.72. The trade was a 7.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,475,053 shares of the bank’s stock worth $115,682,000 after acquiring an additional 180,323 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 2.9% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,694,006 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,683,000 after acquiring an additional 75,677 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400,821 shares of the bank’s stock worth $52,120,000 after acquiring an additional 11,430 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 1.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,962,000 after acquiring an additional 11,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 0.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 722,148 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,864,000 after acquiring an additional 5,367 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.