BNP Paribas Financial Markets Boosts Position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 41.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,772 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,888 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in First Merchants were worth $624,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of First Merchants in the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in First Merchants by 511.5% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the bank’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,606 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in First Merchants by 78.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,893 shares of the bank’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the second quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FRME has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.60.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of First Merchants stock opened at $43.37 on Friday. First Merchants Co. has a 12 month low of $30.55 and a 12 month high of $46.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $40.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.36. The firm has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.31 and a beta of 1.05. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.20%.

First Merchants Company 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.