Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 476,657 First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 476,657 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $19,014,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.81% of First Merchants as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of FRME. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 108.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 139.1% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the bank's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 3rd quarter valued at about $89,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 270.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,728 shares of the bank's stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,991 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,616 shares of the bank's stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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First Merchants Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of First Merchants stock traded up $0.03 on Thursday, reaching $40.86. The stock had a trading volume of 244,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 240,136. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 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 has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 1.05.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is presently 40.94%.

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.