First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Rating Increased to Outperform at Hovde Group

Hovde Group upgraded shares of First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $50.00 price target on the bank's stock.

FRME has been the subject of several other research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities 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, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Trading Up 0.6 %

FRME stock traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $44.37. The company had a trading volume of 187,184 shares, compared to its average volume of 238,617. The stock has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97 and a beta of 1.07. First Merchants has a 52 week low of $30.55 and a 52 week high of $46.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $41.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.36.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.71 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, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is presently 40.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Merchants news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $316,955.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 92,664 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,052,196.72. This trade represents a 7.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FRME. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 55.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank's stock worth $37,133,000 after acquiring an additional 332,168 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in First Merchants by 93.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 424,130 shares of the bank's stock valued at $15,778,000 after purchasing an additional 204,736 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in First Merchants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,577,000. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 15.8% in the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 682,675 shares of the bank's stock worth $25,396,000 after buying an additional 93,319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 2,420.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 78,194 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,909,000 after buying an additional 75,092 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.