71,779 Shares in First Merchants Corporation $FRME Acquired by Inspire Advisors LLC

Inspire Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 71,779 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,000. Inspire Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.12% of First Merchants as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants during the first quarter valued at $24,523,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in First Merchants by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 472,974 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,127,000 after purchasing an additional 4,813 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its position in First Merchants by 49.3% during the 1st quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 340,800 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,782,000 after purchasing an additional 112,500 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 842.5% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 334,593 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,531,000 after purchasing an additional 299,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 223,342 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,554,000 after purchasing an additional 28,131 shares during the period. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FRME has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on First Merchants from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of First Merchants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.60.

First Merchants Stock Performance

FRME opened at $34.99 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $37.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.40. First Merchants Corporation has a 52-week low of $33.13 and a 52-week high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.03. First Merchants had a net margin of 22.04% and a return on equity of 9.91%. The company had revenue of $172.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.00%.

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.