Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,336,937 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 138,689 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.80% of First Merchants worth $252,780,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on FRME shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 target price (up from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James cut their target price on First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Hovde Group raised First Merchants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Merchants has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.20.

First Merchants Stock Performance

FRME stock traded up $1.65 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $36.91. The company had a trading volume of 394,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 260,687. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.95. First Merchants Co. has a 1-year low of $30.55 and a 1-year high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%. On average, analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.