Teacher Retirement System of Texas Raises Stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 16.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,589 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 6,565 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.08% of First Merchants worth $1,858,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FRME. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in First Merchants by 67.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 134,136 shares of the bank's stock worth $5,368,000 after purchasing an additional 54,265 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 123.8% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 24,174 shares of the bank's stock worth $899,000 after buying an additional 13,370 shares during the last quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $607,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 55.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank's stock valued at $37,133,000 after buying an additional 332,168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of First Merchants by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank's stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

First Merchants Trading Up 0.1 %

FRME traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $40.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 262,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,239. First Merchants Co. has a 52-week low of $30.55 and a 52-week high of $46.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.72. 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 $2.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.82 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. First Merchants's payout ratio is 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.