Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 17,921 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,003,206 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 17,921 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 1.71% of First Merchants worth $37,319,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its stake in First Merchants by 84.1% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 31,082 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 14,200 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,962,000 after acquiring an additional 11,521 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,072 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $635,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637 shares in the last quarter. First Merchants Corp grew its position in First Merchants by 457.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 581,863 shares of the bank’s stock worth $19,370,000 after acquiring an additional 477,462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in First Merchants in the 2nd quarter worth about $8,218,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FRME has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Hovde Group began coverage on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler dropped their price target 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, Stephens cut shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.60.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $43.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.23. First Merchants Co. has a twelve month low of $30.20 and a twelve month high of $45.08.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.06). First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The business had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.55 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.20%.

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.