First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Stake Raised by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 139.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,289 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $51,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in First Merchants by 108.3% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 78.9% during 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 during the period. KBC Group NV purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 3rd quarter valued at $89,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 65.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the bank’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 12.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,616 shares of the bank’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FRME has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday. Finally, Hovde Group raised shares of First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $44.44 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.35. First Merchants Co. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67 and a beta of 1.06.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. As a group, 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is 46.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total value of $316,955.04. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 92,664 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,052,196.72. The trade was a 7.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

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.