Oberweis Asset Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Oberweis Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 14.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 145,600 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 18,400 shares during the quarter. Oberweis Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.25% of First Merchants worth $5,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FRME. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in First Merchants by 89.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,290 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,176,000 after buying an additional 53,033 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 1.3% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 67.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 134,136 shares of the bank's stock valued at $5,368,000 after purchasing an additional 54,265 shares during the period. City Center Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in First Merchants during the fourth quarter worth about $219,000. Finally, Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in First Merchants during the fourth quarter worth about $607,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Merchants Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of FRME traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $35.61. The company had a trading volume of 352,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 263,788. First Merchants Co. has a 1 year low of $30.55 and a 1 year high of $46.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $39.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.60.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The company had revenue of $160.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $171.23 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants's payout ratio is 39.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FRME has been the subject of several analyst reports. Hovde Group raised shares of First Merchants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James lowered their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.40.

First Merchants Company 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.