First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Shares Sold by Integrated Investment Consultants LLC

Integrated Investment Consultants LLC decreased its holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,710 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 514 shares during the quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,475,053 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $115,682,000 after acquiring an additional 180,323 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in First Merchants by 2.9% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,694,006 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,683,000 after purchasing an additional 75,677 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $32,962,000 after buying an additional 11,521 shares during the last quarter. First Merchants Corp lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 457.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 581,863 shares of the bank’s stock worth $19,370,000 after purchasing an additional 477,462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the second quarter worth $8,218,000. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Merchants Stock Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $43.47 on Friday. First Merchants Co. has a 1 year low of $30.20 and a 1 year high of $45.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.10 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.43.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.06). First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. The firm had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.55 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is 46.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FRME. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens cut First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Hovde Group started coverage on First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.60.

First Merchants Company Profile

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.