JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 49,384 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 745,439 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 49,384 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $29,736,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 67.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 134,136 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,368,000 after purchasing an additional 54,265 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 123.8% in the third 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. Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in First Merchants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $607,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in First Merchants by 55.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank’s stock worth $37,133,000 after acquiring an additional 332,168 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in First Merchants by 27.9% during 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 during the period. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on FRME. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target (up from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James decreased their target price on First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Hovde Group raised First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.20.

First Merchants Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME opened at $35.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a PE ratio of 10.31 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. First Merchants Co. has a 52-week low of $30.55 and a 52-week high of $46.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $41.71 and a 200 day moving average of $40.67.

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

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 40.94%.

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.