Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Grows Position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 34.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,267 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,415 shares during the quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $494,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 51,137 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,785,000 after acquiring an additional 2,089 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 1,313.6% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 7,266 shares of the bank’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 6,752 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 1st quarter valued at about $193,000. Aurora Investment Counsel purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,274,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in First Merchants by 511.5% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the bank’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 1,606 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Stephens lowered shares of 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 research report on Wednesday, August 7th. 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. Finally, Hovde Group assumed coverage on First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, First Merchants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.60.

First Merchants Price Performance

FRME stock opened at $44.29 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $39.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.67. 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 12-month low of $30.20 and a 12-month high of $46.13.

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

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 46.20%.

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.