First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Rating Lowered to Market Perform at Raymond James Financial

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) was downgraded by equities researchers at Raymond James Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

FRME has been the topic of a number of other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.50.

First Merchants Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME opened at $38.22 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.64. First Merchants has a twelve month low of $33.13 and a twelve month high of $46.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of 9.90 and a beta of 1.10.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.04. First Merchants had a net margin of 21.35% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The firm had revenue of $170.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.13 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Merchants

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FRME. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants in the 1st quarter valued at $658,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 10,900.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,231 shares of the bank’s stock worth $859,000 after purchasing an additional 21,038 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 1st quarter valued at about $768,000. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in First Merchants during the first quarter valued at approximately $7,342,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

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.