First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Receives $49.00 Average Price Target from Brokerages

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $49.00.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on FRME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Hovde Group raised First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price (up from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Merchants news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $316,955.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 92,664 shares in the company, valued at $4,052,196.72. This trade represents a 7.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FRME. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 108.3% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in shares of First Merchants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 139.1% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 78.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,893 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 809.9% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,838 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Trading Down 0.3 %

First Merchants stock opened at $44.61 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.04 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $41.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.68. First Merchants has a one year low of $30.55 and a one year high of $46.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%. On average, analysts forecast that First Merchants will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is 40.94%.

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.