First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $49.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FRME shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded First Merchants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on First Merchants from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Merchants

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 19.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 118,650 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,798,000 after buying an additional 19,375 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 34,708 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,404,000 after acquiring an additional 1,522 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 132,785 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,370,000 after acquiring an additional 8,212 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 941.6% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 107,859 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,362,000 after acquiring an additional 97,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 42.6% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 43,260 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after acquiring an additional 12,922 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Price Performance

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $41.11 on Monday. First Merchants has a 52 week low of $34.66 and a 52 week high of $45.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.94. The firm has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.18 and a beta of 0.84.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.28). First Merchants had a net margin of 17.05% and a return on equity of 8.86%. The business had revenue of $202.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.78 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 47.44%.

About First Merchants

First Merchants Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Muncie, Indiana, and the parent company of First Merchants Bank. The bank provides a broad range of financial products and services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions.

Its offerings include consumer and commercial deposit accounts, residential and commercial lending, business banking, treasury management, mortgage services, investment and wealth management, and trust services. First Merchants also provides specialized financing and advisory solutions for commercial customers and other organizations.

First Merchants serves customers through banking offices and digital channels across Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois.