16,641 Shares in First Merchants Corporation $FRME Acquired by NewEdge Advisors LLC

NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 16,641 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $645,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 19.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 118,650 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,798,000 after acquiring an additional 19,375 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 34,708 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,522 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 132,785 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,370,000 after purchasing an additional 8,212 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in First Merchants by 941.6% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 107,859 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,362,000 after purchasing an additional 97,504 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in First Merchants by 42.6% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 43,260 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 12,922 shares during the period. 73.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded First Merchants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on First Merchants from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Merchants news, Director Larry W. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total transaction of $415,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 99,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,139,666.50. This trade represents a 9.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $43.14 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a PE ratio of 13.83 and a beta of 0.84. First Merchants Corporation has a 1 year low of $34.66 and a 1 year high of $45.33.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.28). First Merchants had a net margin of 17.05% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The firm had revenue of $202.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.78 million. Equities analysts anticipate that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This is a boost from First Merchants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.44%.

About First Merchants

First Merchants Corporation, through its subsidiary First Merchants Bank, offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and public sector clients. The company’s core business activities include retail and commercial banking, lending, treasury and cash management, and wealth advisory services. With a focus on relationship banking, First Merchants seeks to deliver tailored solutions for deposit accounts, loan financing and other credit products.

On the consumer side, First Merchants provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, personal and mortgage loans, and electronic banking conveniences.