First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $41.60.

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Hovde Group assumed coverage on First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Stephens cut First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th.

First Merchants Stock Up 2.3 %

FRME stock opened at $37.49 on Wednesday. First Merchants has a twelve month low of $28.08 and a twelve month high of $42.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.37 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $37.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.73.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 EPS 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 business had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that First Merchants will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Merchants

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of FRME. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 76.7% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 29,313 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 12,721 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 184,862 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,452,000 after purchasing an additional 53,463 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $251,000. Inspire Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 32,107 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 2,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 154,379 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,388,000 after purchasing an additional 26,772 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

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.