First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Shares Acquired by Systematic Financial Management LP

Systematic Financial Management LP raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 682,675 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 93,319 shares during the quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP owned approximately 1.16% of First Merchants worth $25,396,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 3rd quarter valued at about $153,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 82,318 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,062,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 3rd quarter valued at about $226,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 16,772 shares of the bank's stock valued at $624,000 after purchasing an additional 4,888 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 181.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 7,155 shares of the bank's stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,612 shares during the period. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on FRME. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Stephens downgraded First Merchants from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Hovde Group began 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Merchants currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.60.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of FRME stock traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $43.30. 174,901 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 255,192. The company has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.43 and a beta of 1.05. The company's 50 day moving average is $39.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.01. First Merchants Co. has a 1 year low of $30.55 and a 1 year high of $46.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last issued its 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). The business had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. 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.