First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Shares Sold by Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lessened its position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 64,540 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 6,141 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.11% of First Merchants worth $2,574,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 121,969 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,866,000 after buying an additional 9,679 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 55.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $37,133,000 after buying an additional 332,168 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 104,763 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,179,000 after buying an additional 1,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $233,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Price Performance

FRME opened at $37.57 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. First Merchants Co. has a 52-week low of $30.55 and a 52-week high of $46.13. The company has a 50 day moving average of $37.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.47. The company has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99 and a beta of 1.02.

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

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This is an increase from First Merchants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 40.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Hovde Group upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.40.

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.