First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Short Interest Up 30.4% in February

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) 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) 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

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is presently 40.94%.

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.

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.