Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Sells 325 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 21,564 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 325 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $800,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the first quarter worth about $35,000. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 35.0% during the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,454 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the first quarter worth about $50,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 16.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,806 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the third quarter worth about $81,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James increased their price objective on First Merchants from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th.

First Merchants Stock Performance

FRME opened at $32.51 on Wednesday. First Merchants Co. has a 12-month low of $24.52 and a 12-month high of $38.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.69 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50 day moving average of $33.78 and a 200-day moving average of $32.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current 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 (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $158.50 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 36.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Stephan Fluhler sold 3,193 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.17, for a total transaction of $105,911.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $798,401.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.