First Merchants Corporation $FRME Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,983,901 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 94,617 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.10% of First Merchants worth $224,277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in First Merchants by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 25,264 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $962,000 after buying an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in First Merchants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $218,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in First Merchants by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 22,033 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $826,000 after buying an additional 1,519 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC now owns 58,107 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,178,000 after purchasing an additional 2,281 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Merchants news, VP Larry W. Myers sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total transaction of $207,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 109,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,543,876.50. This trade represents a 4.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FRME. Weiss Ratings raised shares of First Merchants from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on First Merchants from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.33.

First Merchants Stock Down 0.2%

FRME opened at $40.41 on Friday. First Merchants Corporation has a 12 month low of $34.66 and a 12 month high of $43.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.89 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $39.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.54.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.07. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The business had revenue of $163.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $201.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that First Merchants Corporation will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.35%.

First Merchants Profile

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.