Quest Partners LLC Buys 34,004 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Quest Partners LLC grew its position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 2,517.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,355 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 34,004 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC owned 0.06% of First Merchants worth $1,315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in First Merchants by 78.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,893 shares of the bank's stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 835 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 511.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the bank's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 1,606 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in First Merchants during the second quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Finally, KBC Group NV bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the third quarter worth about $89,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on FRME shares. Hovde Group assumed coverage on First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens cut First Merchants from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.60.

First Merchants Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of FRME traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $42.72. 172,882 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 258,315. First Merchants Co. has a 12-month low of $30.20 and a 12-month high of $45.08. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $38.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.38. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.15 and a beta of 1.01.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.06). First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The company had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $160.55 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.20%.

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.