First Merchants (FRME) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) is set to post its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, October 24th. Analysts expect First Merchants to post earnings of $0.91 per share for the quarter. Individual that are interested in registering for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $267.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.35 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 17.77%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.02 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect First Merchants to post $3 EPS for the current fiscal year and $4 EPS for the next fiscal year.

First Merchants Trading Down 0.1 %

First Merchants stock opened at $37.35 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.76 and a beta of 1.02. First Merchants has a one year low of $25.70 and a one year high of $42.44. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $37.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.48.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 40.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. 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 for the company. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.20.

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.