Brokerages Set First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Target Price at $42.60

Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $42.60.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FRME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th.

Insider Transactions at First Merchants

In related news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $316,955.04. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 92,664 shares in the company, valued at $4,052,196.72. This represents a 7.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Merchants

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 3.2% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,614 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in First Merchants by 12.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,616 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in First Merchants by 108.3% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in First Merchants by 7.9% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $233,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 83,696 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,113,000 after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Merchants Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME opened at $40.02 on Monday. First Merchants has a 1 year low of $30.55 and a 1 year high of $46.13. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 13.21 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.06). First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The business had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.20%.

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.