Systematic Financial Management LP Decreases Position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Systematic Financial Management LP decreased its position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 589,356 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,581 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP owned about 1.01% of First Merchants worth $19,620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new stake in First Merchants in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in First Merchants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 511.5% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 1,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in First Merchants during the second quarter worth about $79,000. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FRME has been the topic of several research reports. Stephens lowered shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Hovde Group started coverage on First Merchants in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, First Merchants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.20.

First Merchants Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of FRME stock opened at $36.67 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.57 and a beta of 1.02. First Merchants Co. has a 52-week low of $25.70 and a 52-week high of $42.44. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.56 and its 200 day moving average is $35.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.10). First Merchants had a net margin of 17.77% and a return on equity of 9.17%. The business had revenue of $267.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that First Merchants Co. will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 40.35%.

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.