Prudential Financial Inc. Has $1.38 Million Stock Position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Prudential Financial Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 31.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,757 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 14,414 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of First Merchants worth $1,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 3,889.0% during the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,377,823 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,092,101,000 after acquiring an additional 26,691,490 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,336,937 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $252,780,000 after purchasing an additional 138,689 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in First Merchants by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400,821 shares of the bank’s stock worth $52,120,000 after purchasing an additional 11,430 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 55.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $37,133,000 after purchasing an additional 332,168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 1.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,962,000 after purchasing an additional 11,521 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of FRME stock opened at $35.65 on Friday. First Merchants Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.55 and a fifty-two week high of $46.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.72. 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 company has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 1.05.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts predict that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is 40.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on FRME. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James dropped their target price on First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Hovde Group upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

First Merchants 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.