First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $48.00.

FRME has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research raised First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen lowered First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on First Merchants from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th.

First Merchants Stock Performance

FRME opened at $37.98 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $39.50 and a 200-day moving average of $38.53. First Merchants has a 52-week low of $33.13 and a 52-week high of $46.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $170.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $172.13 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 21.35%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Merchants will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.31%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Merchants

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FRME. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in First Merchants during the first quarter worth approximately $24,523,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 842.5% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 334,593 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,531,000 after buying an additional 299,092 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 1,034.4% in the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 202,055 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,171,000 after purchasing an additional 184,243 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the first quarter worth $7,342,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in First Merchants by 169.3% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 261,904 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,031,000 after acquiring an additional 164,664 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

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.