First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the six analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $47.00.

FRME has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of First Merchants in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of First Merchants from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on First Merchants from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 27th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in First Merchants by 361.7% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 771 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 604 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 62.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 987 shares of the bank’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Caldwell Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the second quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, GGM Financials LLC purchased a new position in First Merchants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $64,000. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of FRME stock opened at $39.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $38.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.28. First Merchants has a 12-month low of $33.13 and a 12-month high of $45.62.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $178.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $172.89 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.68% and a net margin of 21.49%.During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that First Merchants will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were given a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is presently 37.02%.

About First Merchants

First Merchants Corporation, through its subsidiary First Merchants Bank, offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and public sector clients. The company’s core business activities include retail and commercial banking, lending, treasury and cash management, and wealth advisory services. With a focus on relationship banking, First Merchants seeks to deliver tailored solutions for deposit accounts, loan financing and other credit products.

On the consumer side, First Merchants provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, personal and mortgage loans, and electronic banking conveniences.