First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 886,088 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 11,521 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 1.51% of First Merchants worth $32,962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Merchants Corp increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 477,462 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the second quarter worth $8,218,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in First Merchants by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,475,053 shares of the bank's stock worth $115,682,000 after purchasing an additional 180,323 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 75,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 39.5% in the second quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 204,177 shares of the bank's stock valued at $6,797,000 after purchasing an additional 57,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on FRME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Stephens downgraded First Merchants from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Hovde Group started 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. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.60.

First Merchants Price Performance

FRME traded down $0.02 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $44.44. 222,739 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 259,025. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $28.20 and a 1 year high of $44.98. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $37.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.98. The company has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a PE ratio of 14.75 and a beta of 1.01.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is currently 46.20%.

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.