53,763 Shares in First Merchants Corporation $FRME Purchased by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 53,763 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,349,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 27,081,812.5% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 15,165,871 shares of the bank’s stock worth $568,417,000 after buying an additional 15,165,815 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in First Merchants in the second quarter valued at approximately $232,637,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in First Merchants by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,596,017 shares of the bank’s stock worth $139,272,000 after acquiring an additional 277,977 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,005,625 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $76,815,000 after acquiring an additional 6,924 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 1,058,247 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,663,000 after acquiring an additional 104,260 shares during the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Merchants Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $42.06 on Friday. First Merchants Corporation has a 1 year low of $34.66 and a 1 year high of $45.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.48 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.97.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $202.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.78 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.86% and a net margin of 17.05%. As a group, equities analysts expect that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.44%.

Insider Transactions at First Merchants

In other First Merchants news, Director Larry W. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total transaction of $415,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 99,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,139,666.50. This trade represents a 9.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FRME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded First Merchants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on First Merchants from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First Merchants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Company Profile

First Merchants Corporation, through its subsidiary First Merchants Bank, offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and public sector clients. The company’s core business activities include retail and commercial banking, lending, treasury and cash management, and wealth advisory services. With a focus on relationship banking, First Merchants seeks to deliver tailored solutions for deposit accounts, loan financing and other credit products.

On the consumer side, First Merchants provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, personal and mortgage loans, and electronic banking conveniences.