Kennondale Capital Management LLC Invests $538,000 in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Kennondale Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 13,495 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $538,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in First Merchants by 3,889.0% during the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,377,823 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,092,101,000 after buying an additional 26,691,490 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in First Merchants by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400,821 shares of the bank's stock worth $52,120,000 after purchasing an additional 11,430 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in First Merchants by 55.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank's stock worth $37,133,000 after purchasing an additional 332,168 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 1.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank's stock valued at $32,962,000 after acquiring an additional 11,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 820,649 shares of the bank's stock valued at $32,736,000 after acquiring an additional 19,932 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective (up from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Hovde Group raised 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. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME traded down $0.62 on Friday, hitting $40.24. 1,578,043 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 244,317. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. First Merchants Co. has a 1-year low of $30.55 and a 1-year high of $46.13. The firm's 50-day moving average is $42.11 and its 200 day moving average is $40.49.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.94%.

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.