Freestone Grove Partners LP Purchases Shares of 21,313 First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 21,313 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $931,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 361.7% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 771 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 325.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 796 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 609 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Advisors bought a new stake in First Merchants during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in First Merchants by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,042 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 425 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in First Merchants by 24.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,403 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on First Merchants from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Stock Up 0.6%

FRME stock opened at $41.93 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $43.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.98. The stock has a market cap of $2.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. First Merchants Corporation has a twelve month low of $34.66 and a twelve month high of $45.33.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.28). First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.86% and a net margin of 17.05%.The firm had revenue of $202.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.78 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Merchants

In other news, Director Larry W. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total value of $415,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 99,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,139,666.50. This represents a 9.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

First Merchants Profile

First Merchants Corporation, through its subsidiary First Merchants Bank, offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and public sector clients. The company’s core business activities include retail and commercial banking, lending, treasury and cash management, and wealth advisory services. With a focus on relationship banking, First Merchants seeks to deliver tailored solutions for deposit accounts, loan financing and other credit products.

On the consumer side, First Merchants provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, personal and mortgage loans, and electronic banking conveniences.