Inspire Investing LLC Buys 328 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 3.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,614 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FRME. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in First Merchants by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 39.5% in the second quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 204,177 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,797,000 after acquiring an additional 57,800 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 59.3% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 58,820 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,958,000 after acquiring an additional 21,900 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,475,053 shares of the bank’s stock worth $115,682,000 after purchasing an additional 180,323 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 2.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 178,829 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,953,000 after purchasing an additional 4,349 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of FRME stock opened at $37.30 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.71 and its 200 day moving average is $34.97. First Merchants Co. has a twelve month low of $25.70 and a twelve month high of $42.44.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.10). First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 17.77%. The business had revenue of $267.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.02 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 40.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on FRME shares. Stephens lowered First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Hovde Group began coverage on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.20.

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.