First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Upgraded by Stephens to “Hold” Rating

Stephens upgraded shares of First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday,Zacks reports.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of First Merchants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Stock Down 1.5%

First Merchants stock opened at $40.03 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a PE ratio of 12.83 and a beta of 0.84. First Merchants has a fifty-two week low of $34.66 and a fifty-two week high of $45.33.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $202.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.78 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.86% and a net margin of 17.05%. Equities analysts anticipate that First Merchants will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.44%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Merchants

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its holdings in First Merchants by 100.7% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 42,082 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,839,000 after acquiring an additional 21,110 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in First Merchants during the second quarter valued at $81,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the second quarter valued at about $917,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 21.3% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,342 shares of the bank’s stock worth $190,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 12.9% during the second quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 7,724 shares of the bank’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 882 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Company Profile

First Merchants Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Muncie, Indiana, and the parent company of First Merchants Bank. The bank provides a broad range of financial products and services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions.

Its offerings include consumer and commercial deposit accounts, residential and commercial lending, business banking, treasury management, mortgage services, investment and wealth management, and trust services. First Merchants also provides specialized financing and advisory solutions for commercial customers and other organizations.

First Merchants serves customers through banking offices and digital channels across Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois.