First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.06 EPS

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06), RTT News reports. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 17.77%. The firm had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share.

First Merchants Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of First Merchants stock traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $35.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 264,108 shares, compared to its average volume of 250,839. First Merchants has a twelve month low of $25.74 and a twelve month high of $42.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $37.22 and a 200-day moving average of $35.50. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.30 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens cut First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of First Merchants in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Hovde Group began coverage on First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.20.

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.