First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Shares Bought by Creative Planning

Creative Planning raised its position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,897 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,262 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FRME. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in First Merchants during the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in First Merchants by 511.5% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 1,606 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in First Merchants during the 2nd quarter worth $79,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of First Merchants in the first quarter valued at approximately $193,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on FRME shares. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Hovde Group initiated coverage on First Merchants in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.60.

First Merchants Stock Down 0.9 %

FRME stock opened at $36.65 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $37.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.71. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 1.01. First Merchants Co. has a fifty-two week low of $28.08 and a fifty-two week high of $42.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.06). First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The firm had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 46.20%.

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.