First Merchants’ (FRME) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Raymond James

Raymond James reissued their outperform rating on shares of First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $50.00 price target on the bank’s stock, up from their prior price target of $42.00.

FRME has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Hovde Group raised First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of FRME stock opened at $44.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67 and a beta of 1.06. First Merchants has a 1-year low of $30.55 and a 1-year high of $46.13. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.35.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $316,955.04. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 92,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,052,196.72. This represents a 7.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Merchants

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 12.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,616 shares of the bank’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in First Merchants by 108.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 4.4% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 11,077 shares of the bank’s stock worth $412,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 7.9% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $233,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 0.7% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 83,696 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,113,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.