American Century Companies Inc. Sells 3,676 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

American Century Companies Inc. trimmed its position in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,462,181 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,676 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 2.50% of First Merchants worth $48,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Waterfront Wealth Inc. grew its position in First Merchants by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 26,433 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $880,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,510 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in First Merchants by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 16,405 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $608,000 after buying an additional 791 shares during the period. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new position in First Merchants in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. 73.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FRME has been the subject of a number of research reports. Hovde Group initiated coverage on First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Stephens downgraded 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 price objective on shares of First Merchants in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.20.

First Merchants Stock Performance

FRME stock opened at $36.93 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.87. 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 Co. has a one year low of $25.70 and a one year high of $42.44. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.64 and a beta of 1.02.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.10). First Merchants had a net margin of 17.77% and a return on equity of 9.17%. The firm had revenue of $267.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.02 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 40.35%.

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.