Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 355 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,901 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 355 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. owned 0.07% of First Merchants worth $1,632,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FRME. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in First Merchants by 3,889.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,377,823 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,092,101,000 after buying an additional 26,691,490 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 55.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank’s stock worth $37,133,000 after acquiring an additional 332,168 shares in the last quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 26,908 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,073,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 104,763 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,179,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peregrine Capital Management LLC increased its position in First Merchants by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 152,449 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,081,000 after purchasing an additional 21,331 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other First Merchants news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction 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. The trade was a 7.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on FRME. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Hovde Group raised First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $43.75 on Tuesday. First Merchants Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.55 and a fifty-two week high of $46.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.26.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.94%.

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.