First Merchants (FRME) Scheduled to Post Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) is scheduled to announce its earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, April 25th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.84 per share for the quarter. Investors interested in participating in the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87. First Merchants had a net margin of 22.39% and a return on equity of 10.97%. The company had revenue of $156.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $158.50 million. On average, analysts expect First Merchants to post $3 EPS for the current fiscal year and $3 EPS for the next fiscal year.

First Merchants Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of FRME stock opened at $33.99 on Tuesday. First Merchants has a 1 year low of $24.52 and a 1 year high of $38.16. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.09 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Merchants news, insider Stephan Fluhler sold 3,193 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.17, for a total transaction of $105,911.81. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,070 shares in the company, valued at $798,401.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FRME. StockNews.com lowered shares of First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of First Merchants from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th.

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.