Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 0.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 722,148 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 5,367 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.23% of First Merchants worth $26,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Waterfront Wealth Inc. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in First Merchants by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,614 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in First Merchants by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,616 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,000 after buying an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in First Merchants by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in First Merchants by 78.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,893 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FRME. Hovde Group began coverage on First Merchants in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Stephens lowered First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.60.

First Merchants Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of FRME opened at $43.73 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.43 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.01. First Merchants Co. has a twelve month low of $30.55 and a twelve month high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.