First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Shares Sold by Guggenheim Capital LLC

Guggenheim Capital LLC trimmed its stake in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 87.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,735 shares of the bank's stock after selling 196,606 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC's holdings in First Merchants were worth $1,146,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in First Merchants during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 139.1% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the bank's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 809.9% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,838 shares of the bank's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 1,636 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 270.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,728 shares of the bank's stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,991 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank's stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FRME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 price target (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Hovde Group upgraded shares of First Merchants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.20.

First Merchants Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of FRME stock opened at $36.23 on Wednesday. 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 $30.55 and a 1 year high of $46.13. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $39.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.59 and a beta of 0.95.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is currently 40.94%.

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.

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