Cibc World Markets Corp Takes $218,000 Position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 5,457 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of First Merchants by 67.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 134,136 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,368,000 after acquiring an additional 54,265 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 123.8% in the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 24,174 shares of the bank’s stock worth $899,000 after purchasing an additional 13,370 shares during the period. Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in First Merchants in the fourth quarter worth $607,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in First Merchants by 55.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $37,133,000 after purchasing an additional 332,168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the period. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FRME. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price (up from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a report on Friday, January 31st. Hovde Group upgraded First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Merchants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Price Performance

NASDAQ FRME opened at $41.07 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.59. The stock has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. First Merchants Co. has a 52 week low of $30.55 and a 52 week high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%. Analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 40.94%.

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.