First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Price Target Cut to $49.00 by Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) had its price target cut by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $52.00 to $49.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the bank's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price target indicates a potential upside of 37.60% from the company's current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James lowered their target price 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. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 target price (up from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Hovde Group raised shares of First Merchants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.40.

First Merchants Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME traded up $0.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $35.61. The stock had a trading volume of 352,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 263,788. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.59. First Merchants has a fifty-two week low of $30.55 and a fifty-two week high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $160.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $171.23 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. As a group, analysts anticipate that First Merchants will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Merchants

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 1st quarter valued at $46,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 139.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 314.5% during the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,318 shares of the bank's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,636 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company's stock.

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.