First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME – Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 423,100 shares, an increase of 30.4% from the February 13th total of 324,400 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 248,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days.
First Merchants Trading Down 0.2 %
Shares of FRME opened at $40.61 on Wednesday. First Merchants has a twelve month low of $30.55 and a twelve month high of $46.13. The company has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.87 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. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.48.
First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. As a group, analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.
First Merchants Dividend Announcement
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,388 shares of the bank’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 26,908 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,073,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,308 shares of the bank’s stock worth $690,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 7,141 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,101 shares of the bank’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
FRME has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Hovde Group raised shares of First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First Merchants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.00.
View Our Latest Research Report on FRME
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.
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