Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Purchases 1,965 Shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 13.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,005 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,965 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $688,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 121,969 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,866,000 after acquiring an additional 9,679 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 1st quarter worth approximately $658,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 41,288 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,670,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 43.2% during the 4th quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 41,781 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,667,000 after acquiring an additional 12,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 10,900.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,231 shares of the bank’s stock worth $859,000 after acquiring an additional 21,038 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FRME has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.20.

First Merchants Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME opened at $37.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.70 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. First Merchants Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.13 and a 12-month high of $46.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $38.61 and its 200 day moving average is $39.36.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $170.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $172.13 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 21.35%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. This is an increase from First Merchants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is 37.31%.

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.