First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $47.75.

A number of analysts recently commented on FRME shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on First Merchants from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research cut First Merchants from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of First Merchants in a report on Monday, December 29th.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FRME. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 27,081,812.5% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 15,165,871 shares of the bank’s stock worth $568,417,000 after acquiring an additional 15,165,815 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in First Merchants by 64.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,346,300 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,756,000 after purchasing an additional 527,545 shares in the last quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in First Merchants during the third quarter valued at about $11,111,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 252.0% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 321,550 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,122,000 after buying an additional 230,192 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 169.3% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 261,904 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,031,000 after acquiring an additional 164,664 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Stock Up 1.2%

First Merchants stock opened at $42.34 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $38.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.31. First Merchants has a 1-year low of $33.13 and a 1-year high of $45.62. The company has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02. First Merchants had a net margin of 21.49% and a return on equity of 9.68%. The company had revenue of $178.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were given a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 37.02%.

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.