Eagle Asset Management Inc. Has $15.78 Million Stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 93.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 424,130 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 204,736 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.72% of First Merchants worth $15,778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 11,521 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 6.1% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 211,132 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,854,000 after buying an additional 12,050 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,072 shares of the bank’s stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637 shares in the last quarter. First Merchants Corp increased its stake in First Merchants by 457.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 581,863 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,370,000 after buying an additional 477,462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in First Merchants during the second quarter worth about $8,218,000. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on FRME. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens cut shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Hovde Group started coverage on First Merchants in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Finally, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.60.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of First Merchants stock opened at $44.05 on Friday. First Merchants Co. has a 12 month low of $30.20 and a 12 month high of $45.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $38.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 46.20%.

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.