First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME – Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.60.
A number of analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on FRME
Insider Buying and Selling at First Merchants
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in First Merchants by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 178,829 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,953,000 after buying an additional 4,349 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 5.5% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 59.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 58,820 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,958,000 after purchasing an additional 21,900 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 7.9% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,614 shares of the bank’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.
First Merchants Stock Down 1.2 %
First Merchants stock opened at $40.02 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 13.21 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. First Merchants has a one year low of $30.55 and a one year high of $46.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $41.68 and a 200 day moving average of $39.03.
First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME – Get Free Report) last released 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). First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The business had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.
First Merchants Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.20%.
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.
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