Wells Fargo & Company MN Acquires 6,390 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 199,296 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,390 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned approximately 0.34% of First Merchants worth $7,950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in First Merchants by 3,889.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,377,823 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,092,101,000 after purchasing an additional 26,691,490 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,336,937 shares of the bank’s stock worth $252,780,000 after acquiring an additional 138,689 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in First Merchants by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400,821 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,120,000 after acquiring an additional 11,430 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in First Merchants by 55.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank’s stock worth $37,133,000 after purchasing an additional 332,168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 1.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,962,000 after purchasing an additional 11,521 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME opened at $35.53 on Friday. First Merchants Co. has a twelve month low of $30.55 and a twelve month high of $46.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of 10.39 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.28 and its 200 day moving average is $40.54.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 40.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FRME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price (up from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Hovde Group upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.20.

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.