First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Downgraded to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of First Merchants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.00.

First Merchants Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of FRME opened at $37.98 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 1.05. First Merchants has a 12 month low of $33.13 and a 12 month high of $46.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $39.50 and its 200-day moving average is $38.53.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $170.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that First Merchants will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 1st quarter valued at $658,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 41,288 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,670,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in First Merchants by 10,900.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,231 shares of the bank’s stock worth $859,000 after purchasing an additional 21,038 shares in the last quarter. Integrity Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the first quarter valued at approximately $768,000. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the 1st quarter valued at $7,342,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.