Renaissance Technologies LLC Purchases New Position in First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 18,788 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $728,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FRME. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 10.7% in the first quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 861,995 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,385,000 after buying an additional 83,667 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 32.9% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 147,699 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,720,000 after buying an additional 36,563 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 42.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 15,239 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $590,000 after buying an additional 4,558 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in First Merchants by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 725,259 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,089,000 after acquiring an additional 9,771 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in First Merchants by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 25,684 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $995,000 after acquiring an additional 1,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of First Merchants stock opened at $43.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.01 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.83. First Merchants Corporation has a 12 month low of $34.66 and a 12 month high of $45.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This is a boost from First Merchants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Transactions at First Merchants

In other news, Director Larry W. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 99,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,139,666.50. This represents a 9.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About First Merchants

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.