First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Rating Lowered to Equal Weight at Stephens

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) was downgraded by Stephens from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $38.00 price target on the bank’s stock, down from their prior price target of $45.00. Stephens’ target price suggests a potential upside of 6.17% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target (up previously from $43.00) on shares of First Merchants in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.25.

First Merchants Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:FRME traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $35.79. The stock had a trading volume of 49,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 256,444. The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 1.04. First Merchants has a 1-year low of $25.70 and a 1-year high of $42.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.10). First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 17.77%. The firm had revenue of $267.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that First Merchants will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Merchants news, Director Patrick J. Fehring sold 23,936 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.51, for a total value of $778,159.36. Following the transaction, the director now owns 122,706 shares in the company, valued at $3,989,172.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Merchants

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in First Merchants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in First Merchants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new position in First Merchants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in First Merchants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in First Merchants by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,524 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.