First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $49.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of First Merchants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Merchants news, Director Larry W. Myers sold 10,000 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total transaction of $415,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 99,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,139,666.50. The trade was a 9.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Merchants

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL increased its stake in First Merchants by 121.1% during the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 98,523 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,714,000 after purchasing an additional 53,953 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in First Merchants by 8.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 947,498 shares of the bank’s stock worth $35,721,000 after purchasing an additional 73,725 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its stake in First Merchants by 137.4% during the third quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 37,124 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,400,000 after purchasing an additional 21,486 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in First Merchants by 64.4% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,346,300 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,756,000 after purchasing an additional 527,545 shares during the period. Finally, Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter worth about $1,874,000. 73.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Merchants Price Performance

First Merchants stock opened at $43.69 on Wednesday. First Merchants has a 52-week low of $34.66 and a 52-week high of $44.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.85 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.07. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The business had revenue of $163.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $201.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that First Merchants will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from First Merchants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is presently 43.53%.

About First Merchants

First Merchants Corporation, through its subsidiary First Merchants Bank, offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and public sector clients. The company’s core business activities include retail and commercial banking, lending, treasury and cash management, and wealth advisory services. With a focus on relationship banking, First Merchants seeks to deliver tailored solutions for deposit accounts, loan financing and other credit products.

On the consumer side, First Merchants provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, personal and mortgage loans, and electronic banking conveniences.