First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Shares Sold by Tower Research Capital LLC TRC

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC trimmed its position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 56.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 905 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,165 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $36,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of First Merchants by 139.1% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in First Merchants by 809.9% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,838 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in First Merchants by 270.1% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,728 shares of the bank’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 1,991 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank’s stock worth $122,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FRME has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James lowered their target price on First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Hovde Group upgraded First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.40.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $39.05 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.53. The company has a market cap of $2.28 billion, a PE ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 1.02. First Merchants Co. has a 12-month low of $30.55 and a 12-month high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.03. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%. The firm had revenue of $160.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $171.23 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

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.