First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.35

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 12th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of 0.35 per share by the bank on Friday, December 20th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th.

First Merchants has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.8% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 13 years. First Merchants has a dividend payout ratio of 39.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect First Merchants to earn $3.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 39.8%.

First Merchants Price Performance

FRME traded down $0.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $43.45. 206,541 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 259,781. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 1.01. First Merchants has a 1 year low of $30.20 and a 1 year high of $45.08. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.11.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Merchants will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on FRME. Stephens downgraded First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of First Merchants in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Merchants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.60.

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.