First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.10 EPS

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.10), Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $267.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.35 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 17.77%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.02 earnings per share.

First Merchants Stock Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ FRME traded up $0.92 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.35. The stock had a trading volume of 327,322 shares, compared to its average volume of 274,640. The company has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a PE ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $33.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. First Merchants has a 12 month low of $25.70 and a 12 month high of $42.44.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This is a boost from First Merchants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is presently 40.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Merchants

In other news, Director Patrick J. Fehring sold 23,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.51, for a total transaction of $778,159.36. Following the sale, the director now owns 122,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,989,172.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on FRME shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on First Merchants from $41.00 to $42.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com upgraded First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective on First Merchants from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.50.

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.