Hsbc Holdings PLC Acquires 519 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,074 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 519 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $233,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Denali Advisors LLC raised its stake in First Merchants by 39.5% during the 2nd quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 204,177 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,797,000 after purchasing an additional 57,800 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 59.3% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 58,820 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,958,000 after buying an additional 21,900 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,475,053 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $115,682,000 after buying an additional 180,323 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in First Merchants by 2.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 178,829 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,953,000 after buying an additional 4,349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in First Merchants by 10.7% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,020 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,399,000 after acquiring an additional 4,066 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FRME has been the subject of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Stephens cut First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.20.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME opened at $36.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $37.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.15. First Merchants Co. has a fifty-two week low of $25.70 and a fifty-two week high of $42.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.43 and a beta of 1.02.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.10). First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 17.77%. The firm had revenue of $267.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.02 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that First Merchants Co. will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 40.35%.

About First Merchants

First Merchants Corporation operates as the financial holding company for First Merchants Bank that provides community banking services. The company offers a range of financial services, including time, savings, and demand deposits; and consumer, commercial, agri-business, public finance, and real estate mortgage loans.