First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Receives $42.60 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.60.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

First Merchants Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $40.25 on Thursday. First Merchants has a 12 month low of $30.55 and a 12 month high of $46.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of 13.28 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $41.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.10.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.06). First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The business had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Merchants will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Merchants news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $316,955.04. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 92,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,052,196.72. This represents a 7.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FRME. Waterfront Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 1.1% during the second quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 26,433 shares of the bank’s stock worth $880,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in First Merchants by 3.2% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,614 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,616 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in First Merchants by 108.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,074 shares of the bank’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.