Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Has $1.40 Million Stock Holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,020 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,066 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. owned 0.07% of First Merchants worth $1,399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of FRME. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in First Merchants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the second quarter worth approximately $8,218,000. Waterfront Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 26,433 shares of the bank’s stock worth $880,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in First Merchants by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 157,494 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,243,000 after purchasing an additional 3,115 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in First Merchants in the 2nd quarter valued at $79,000. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FRME has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Stephens cut shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.20.

First Merchants Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $37.38 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 1.02. First Merchants Co. has a twelve month low of $25.70 and a twelve month high of $42.44. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.92.

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

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 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.