American Century Companies Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,389,058 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 72,320 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 2.37% of First Merchants worth $55,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FRME. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 108.3% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 139.1% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in First Merchants by 270.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,728 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 1,991 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in First Merchants by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank’s stock worth $122,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants during the third quarter worth approximately $153,000. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of FRME stock opened at $41.07 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $42.20 and its 200 day moving average is $40.59. First Merchants Co. has a 1-year low of $30.55 and a 1-year high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. Research analysts predict that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is presently 40.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of First Merchants in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Hovde Group upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

First Merchants 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.