First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Short Interest Update

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 531,400 shares, a decrease of 5.8% from the November 15th total of 563,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 266,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FRME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.60.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in First Merchants by 0.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 89.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,290 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,176,000 after buying an additional 53,033 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 108.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 123.8% in the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 24,174 shares of the bank’s stock worth $899,000 after buying an additional 13,370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 83,696 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,113,000 after buying an additional 566 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Merchants Stock Performance

FRME traded down $0.18 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $43.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 32,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 254,625. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. First Merchants has a one year low of $30.55 and a one year high of $46.13. The firm has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a PE ratio of 14.45 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.50.

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). The company had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.20%.

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.