The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $17.65 Million Stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 474,438 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 13,649 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.81% of First Merchants worth $17,649,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FRME. First Merchants Corp raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 457.3% in the second quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 581,863 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,370,000 after purchasing an additional 477,462 shares during the period. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in First Merchants in the 2nd quarter worth $8,218,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in First Merchants by 93.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 424,130 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,778,000 after acquiring an additional 204,736 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,475,053 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $115,682,000 after acquiring an additional 180,323 shares during the period. Finally, OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the third quarter valued at about $4,577,000. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Hovde Group initiated coverage on First Merchants in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Stephens downgraded shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.60.

First Merchants Stock Performance

NASDAQ FRME opened at $43.75 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.44 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. First Merchants Co. has a twelve month low of $30.55 and a twelve month high of $46.13. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.85.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is presently 46.20%.

First Merchants Profile

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.