Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 138,689 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,336,937 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 138,689 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.80% of First Merchants worth $252,780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FRME. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 108.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 270.1% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,728 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 1,991 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $153,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FRME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. 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, January 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price (up from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James decreased their price target on First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.20.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of FRME opened at $35.65 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 1.05. First Merchants Co. has a one year low of $30.55 and a one year high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its 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 return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%. As a group, research analysts predict that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.93%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 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.