Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Purchases 4,800 Shares of First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its position in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 345,600 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,800 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned about 0.60% of First Merchants worth $13,236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in First Merchants by 98.4% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the bank’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the 1st quarter valued at about $223,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 30.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,070 shares of the bank’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants in the second quarter worth approximately $235,000. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in First Merchants during the second quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on FRME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on First Merchants from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of First Merchants from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of First Merchants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.60.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of FRME stock opened at $36.81 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $36.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.32. First Merchants Corporation has a 52-week low of $33.13 and a 52-week high of $45.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.20 and a beta of 1.10.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.03. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.91% and a net margin of 22.04%.The company had revenue of $172.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.78 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 36.00%.

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.