First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 531,400 shares, a drop of 5.8% from the November 15th total of 563,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 266,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total value of $316,955.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 92,664 shares in the company, valued at $4,052,196.72. This trade represents a 7.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FRME. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 108.3% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in First Merchants during the second quarter valued at $34,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 511.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the bank’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 1,606 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 78.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,893 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares during the period. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

First Merchants Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $42.74 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 1.05. First Merchants has a 1 year low of $30.55 and a 1 year high of $46.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $40.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced 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). The business had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, First Merchants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.60.

First Merchants Company 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.