Brokerages Set First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) PT at $42.20

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.20.

Several research firms have issued reports on FRME. Hovde Group began coverage on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Stephens lowered shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of First Merchants in a report on Wednesday, August 28th.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Waterfront Wealth Inc. grew its position in First Merchants by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 26,433 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $880,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in First Merchants by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,614 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in First Merchants by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in First Merchants by 25.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,510 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 704 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in First Merchants by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 16,405 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $608,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $37.53 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.82 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $37.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. First Merchants has a 52-week low of $25.70 and a 52-week high of $42.44.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $267.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.35 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 17.77% and a return on equity of 9.17%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.02 EPS. Analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 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.