Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 14,414 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 31.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,757 shares of the bank's stock after selling 14,414 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.05% of First Merchants worth $1,381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 108.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 139.1% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 270.1% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,728 shares of the bank's stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 1,991 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank's stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the third quarter valued at about $153,000. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on FRME shares. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of 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 reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $55.00 price target (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $48.20.

First Merchants Stock Down 4.0 %

FRME traded down $1.46 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $35.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 18,810 shares, compared to its average volume of 259,750. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.37 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. First Merchants Co. has a 1 year low of $30.55 and a 1 year high of $46.13. The stock's 50-day moving average is $41.44 and its 200-day moving average is $40.64.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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, research analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.