First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Price Target Lowered to $47.00 at Piper Sandler

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) had its target price reduced by Piper Sandler from $50.00 to $47.00 in a report issued on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on FRME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Hovde Group initiated coverage on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stephens downgraded First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.60.

First Merchants Trading Up 3.9 %

NASDAQ FRME opened at $37.16 on Monday. First Merchants has a 12 month low of $26.85 and a 12 month high of $42.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.71 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $37.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.06). First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 17.77%. The company had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Merchants will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.35%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Merchants

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in First Merchants by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,571,539 shares of the bank’s stock worth $243,673,000 after buying an additional 32,126 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,475,053 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $115,682,000 after acquiring an additional 180,323 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. First Merchants Corp increased its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 457.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 581,863 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,370,000 after acquiring an additional 477,462 shares during the period. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in First Merchants in the 2nd quarter valued at $8,218,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.