Arizona State Retirement System Has $619,000 Holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Arizona State Retirement System cut its holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,696 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 297 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $619,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of First Merchants in the first quarter worth about $35,000. State of Wyoming increased its stake in First Merchants by 35.0% during the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,454 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in First Merchants during the first quarter valued at about $50,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in First Merchants by 16.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,806 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in First Merchants during the third quarter valued at about $81,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FRME has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James boosted their price target on First Merchants from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th.

First Merchants Trading Up 3.5 %

FRME stock opened at $34.07 on Friday. First Merchants Co. has a 1-year low of $24.52 and a 1-year high of $38.16. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s 50 day moving average is $33.72 and its 200-day moving average is $32.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.87. First Merchants had a return on equity of 10.97% and a net margin of 22.39%. The company had revenue of $156.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $158.50 million. Equities analysts anticipate that First Merchants Co. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Stephan Fluhler sold 3,193 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.17, for a total value of $105,911.81. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $798,401.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

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.