First Merchants Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.35 (NASDAQ:FRME)

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of 0.35 per share by the bank on Friday, December 20th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th.

First Merchants has raised its dividend by an average of 8.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. First Merchants has a dividend payout ratio of 39.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect First Merchants to earn $3.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 39.8%.

First Merchants Stock Performance

First Merchants stock traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $43.45. The company had a trading volume of 204,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 259,771. First Merchants has a one year low of $30.20 and a one year high of $45.08. The firm has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.78 and a 200 day moving average of $36.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.55 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on FRME shares. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens downgraded First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Hovde Group initiated coverage on First Merchants in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.60.

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.