Engineers Gate Manager LP Acquires 21,110 Shares of First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its stake in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 100.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 42,082 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 21,110 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $1,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in First Merchants in the second quarter worth $27,195,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in First Merchants by 46.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 243,276 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,422,000 after purchasing an additional 77,155 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in First Merchants during the second quarter worth about $2,939,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in First Merchants by 892.3% during the first quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 84,049 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,255,000 after purchasing an additional 75,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,273,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Merchants Stock Performance

First Merchants stock opened at $41.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. First Merchants Corporation has a twelve month low of $34.66 and a twelve month high of $45.33. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a PE ratio of 13.38 and a beta of 0.84.

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

First Merchants Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on First Merchants from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded First Merchants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Profile

First Merchants Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Muncie, Indiana, and the parent company of First Merchants Bank. The bank provides a broad range of financial products and services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions.

Its offerings include consumer and commercial deposit accounts, residential and commercial lending, business banking, treasury management, mortgage services, investment and wealth management, and trust services. First Merchants also provides specialized financing and advisory solutions for commercial customers and other organizations.

First Merchants serves customers through banking offices and digital channels across Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois.