First Merchants Corporation $FRME Shares Sold by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. reduced its holdings in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 711,840 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 19,573 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.22% of First Merchants worth $28,787,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 9,679 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in First Merchants in the first quarter valued at $658,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in First Merchants by 0.9% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 41,288 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,670,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 43.2% in the fourth quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 41,781 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 12,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 10,900.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,231 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $859,000 after purchasing an additional 21,038 shares during the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on FRME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price 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. Wall Street Zen raised First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $48.25.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $39.38 on Wednesday. First Merchants Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.13 and a 1-year high of $46.13. The business has a 50-day moving average of $38.84 and a 200-day moving average of $39.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20 and a beta of 1.08.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $170.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.