First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.60.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 92,664 shares in the company, valued at $4,052,196.72. This represents a 7.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,475,053 shares of the bank’s stock worth $115,682,000 after buying an additional 180,323 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,694,006 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,683,000 after buying an additional 75,677 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400,821 shares of the bank’s stock worth $52,120,000 after buying an additional 11,430 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,962,000 after buying an additional 11,521 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 722,148 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,864,000 after buying an additional 5,367 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Stock Up 0.6 %

FRME opened at $40.35 on Monday. First Merchants has a one year low of $30.55 and a one year high of $46.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a PE ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $41.48 and its 200-day moving average is $39.18.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced 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). First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. 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 prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

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

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.