First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Shares Sold by Integrated Investment Consultants LLC

Integrated Investment Consultants LLC cut its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 4.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,710 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 514 shares during the quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Merchants Corp increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 457.3% during the second quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 581,863 shares of the bank’s stock worth $19,370,000 after purchasing an additional 477,462 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the second quarter valued at about $8,218,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,475,053 shares of the bank’s stock worth $115,682,000 after buying an additional 180,323 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in First Merchants during the third quarter worth about $4,577,000. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in First Merchants by 2.9% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,694,006 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,683,000 after acquiring an additional 75,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of FRME opened at $43.47 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $38.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.43. The stock has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10 and a beta of 1.01. First Merchants Co. has a 12-month low of $30.20 and a 12-month high of $45.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 EPS 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 net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. 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’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FRME has been the topic of a number of research reports. Hovde Group started coverage on First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stephens lowered First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.60.

First Merchants 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.