Fmr LLC Raises Stock Position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Fmr LLC raised its holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 2,420.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 78,194 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 75,092 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned 0.13% of First Merchants worth $2,909,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,475,053 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $115,682,000 after purchasing an additional 180,323 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 2.9% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,694,006 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,683,000 after acquiring an additional 75,677 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 11,521 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 valued at $26,864,000 after acquiring an additional 5,367 shares during the period. Finally, First Merchants Corp increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 457.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 581,863 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,370,000 after purchasing an additional 477,462 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FRME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.60.

First Merchants Price Performance

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $43.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.25 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.46. First Merchants Co. has a 12 month low of $30.55 and a 12 month high of $46.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.20%.

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.