First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Receives $49.00 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $49.00.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Hovde Group raised shares of First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of First Merchants in a report on Friday, January 31st.

First Merchants Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of FRME stock opened at $44.55 on Friday. First Merchants has a twelve month low of $30.55 and a twelve month high of $46.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.57 and a 200 day moving average of $39.73. 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 (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $4,052,196.72. The trade was a 7.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 3,889.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,377,823 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,092,101,000 after buying an additional 26,691,490 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in First Merchants by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,336,937 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $252,780,000 after acquiring an additional 138,689 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in First Merchants by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400,821 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,120,000 after acquiring an additional 11,430 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in First Merchants by 55.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $37,133,000 after acquiring an additional 332,168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in First Merchants by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,962,000 after purchasing an additional 11,521 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

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.