First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $49.00.

FRME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective (up from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Hovde Group raised First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Merchants

In other news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $316,955.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 92,664 shares in the company, valued at $4,052,196.72. This trade represents a 7.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Merchants

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FRME. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 108.3% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 139.1% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the bank’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 809.9% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,838 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in First Merchants during the third quarter worth approximately $89,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Merchants Stock Performance

FRME opened at $39.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 1.05. First Merchants has a 52-week low of $30.55 and a 52-week high of $46.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The business’s fifty day moving average is $41.92 and its 200-day moving average is $40.43.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%. Sell-side analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.94%.

About First Merchants

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.