First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Short Interest Update

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 716,900 shares, a growth of 14.7% from the July 15th total of 625,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 252,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Merchants

In related news, Director Patrick J. Fehring sold 23,936 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.51, for a total transaction of $778,159.36. Following the transaction, the director now owns 122,706 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,989,172.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.32% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 4,586.1% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 700,711 shares of the bank's stock worth $25,982,000 after buying an additional 685,758 shares during the last quarter. First Merchants Corp grew its holdings in First Merchants by 457.3% during the second quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 581,863 shares of the bank's stock valued at $19,370,000 after purchasing an additional 477,462 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in First Merchants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,400,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in First Merchants in the second quarter valued at approximately $8,218,000. Finally, rhino investment partners Inc acquired a new stake in First Merchants in the fourth quarter worth $8,572,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Hovde Group started coverage on First Merchants in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Stephens lowered shares of First Merchants from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up previously from $43.00) on shares of First Merchants in a report on Monday, July 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.20.

First Merchants Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of FRME stock traded up $0.46 on Friday, reaching $36.76. 158,432 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 255,089. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. First Merchants has a one year low of $25.70 and a one year high of $42.44. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.59 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $35.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.32.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.10). First Merchants had a net margin of 17.77% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The business had revenue of $267.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that First Merchants will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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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