ProShare Advisors LLC Purchases 147,704 Shares of First Merchants Corporation $FRME

ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 84.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 323,180 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 147,704 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $12,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in First Merchants by 19.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 118,650 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,798,000 after buying an additional 19,375 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 34,708 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,404,000 after acquiring an additional 1,522 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in First Merchants by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 132,785 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,370,000 after acquiring an additional 8,212 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in First Merchants by 941.6% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 107,859 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,362,000 after acquiring an additional 97,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in First Merchants by 42.6% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 43,260 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 12,922 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Merchants news, insider Eva D. Scurlock sold 3,227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.29, for a total value of $136,469.83. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 20,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $848,464.27. This trade represents a 13.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on FRME shares. Piper Sandler raised their target price on First Merchants from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of First Merchants in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of First Merchants from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.75.

First Merchants Stock Performance

NASDAQ FRME opened at $42.05 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a PE ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.91. First Merchants Corporation has a 52-week low of $33.13 and a 52-week high of $45.62. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.34.

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

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is 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.