First Merchants (FRME) Expected to Announce Earnings on Thursday

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) is anticipated to release its earnings data before the market opens on Thursday, January 30th. Analysts expect First Merchants to post earnings of $0.90 per share and revenue of $167,840.00 billion for the quarter. Parties interested in listening to the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect First Merchants to post $3 EPS for the current fiscal year and $4 EPS for the next fiscal year.

First Merchants Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of FRME stock opened at $40.02 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.21 and a beta of 1.06. First Merchants has a 1 year low of $30.55 and a 1 year high of $46.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.03.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 46.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Merchants

In other news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $316,955.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 92,664 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,052,196.72. This represents a 7.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on FRME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler dropped 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 report on Monday, October 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.60.

First Merchants Company 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.