First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Position Lessened by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio trimmed its position in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 162,652 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 9,800 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $6,031,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FRME. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the first quarter worth $35,000. State of Wyoming raised 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 acquiring an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the first quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in First Merchants during the fourth quarter valued at about $75,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at First Merchants

In other news, insider Stephan Fluhler sold 3,193 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $798,401.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James raised their target price on First Merchants from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th.

First Merchants Price Performance

NASDAQ FRME opened at $32.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.80. The firm has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.80 and a beta of 1.08. First Merchants Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.52 and a fifty-two week high of $38.16.

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

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is presently 36.36%.

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.