UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Cuts Position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lessened its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 12.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 102,823 shares of the bank's stock after selling 14,308 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned 0.18% of First Merchants worth $3,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Waterfront Wealth Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 26,433 shares of the bank's stock worth $880,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 3.2% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,614 shares of the bank's stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of First Merchants by 12.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,616 shares of the bank's stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of First Merchants by 7.9% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,074 shares of the bank's stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 78.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,893 shares of the bank's stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on FRME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, First Merchants has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.60.

First Merchants Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of FRME stock traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $43.17. 263,612 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 255,503. The stock has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.25 and a beta of 1.05. 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 fifty-two week low of $30.55 and a fifty-two week high of $46.13. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.36.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.