Brokerages Set First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Target Price at $42.20

Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.20.

FRME has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Hovde Group started coverage on First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. Stephens lowered First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of First Merchants in a report on Wednesday, August 28th.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in First Merchants during the second quarter worth $34,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in First Merchants during the second quarter worth $45,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 511.5% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,606 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 2nd quarter valued at $79,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $39.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.34. First Merchants has a 52 week low of $25.70 and a 52 week high of $42.44.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $267.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.35 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 17.77% and a return on equity of 9.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.35%.

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.