Raymond James & Associates Lowers Holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Raymond James & Associates decreased its holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 18,462 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,746 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in First Merchants were worth $685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OneAscent Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 128,639 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,770,000 after acquiring an additional 15,231 shares during the last quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 4th quarter valued at about $208,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,539,413 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $181,926,000 after purchasing an additional 84,858 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of First Merchants by 7.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 992,748 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,618,000 after purchasing an additional 71,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 8.5% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 335,292 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,328,000 after purchasing an additional 26,159 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FRME has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James increased their target price on First Merchants from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Merchants

In related news, insider Stephan Fluhler sold 3,193 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.17, for a total transaction of $105,911.81. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME opened at $35.05 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $33.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. First Merchants Co. has a 12 month low of $24.52 and a 12 month high of $38.16. The company has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.37 and a beta of 1.08.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87. The firm had revenue of $156.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $158.50 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 10.97% and a net margin of 22.39%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that First Merchants Co. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 36.36%.

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.