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First Merchants (FRME) Stock Price, News & Analysis

First Merchants logo
$41.26 +1.02 (+2.53%)
Closing price 03/24/2025 04:00 PM Eastern
Extended Trading
$41.27 +0.01 (+0.02%)
As of 03/24/2025 04:37 PM Eastern
Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more.

About First Merchants Stock (NASDAQ:FRME)

Key Stats

Today's Range
$40.70
$41.51
50-Day Range
$38.92
$45.25
52-Week Range
$30.55
$46.13
Volume
311,966 shs
Average Volume
244,921 shs
Market Capitalization
$2.42 billion
P/E Ratio
12.06
Dividend Yield
3.39%
Price Target
$49.00
Consensus Rating
Moderate Buy

Company Overview

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. It also provides personal and corporate trust; brokerage and private wealth management; and letters of credit, repurchase agreements, and other corporate services. The company operates banking locations in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan counties. It also offers its services through electronic and mobile delivery channels. First Merchants Corporation was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Muncie, Indiana.

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First Merchants Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

See Top-Rated MarketRank™ Stocks
95th Percentile Overall Score

FRME MarketRank™: 

First Merchants scored higher than 95% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 77th out of 939 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

  • Consensus Rating

    First Merchants has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.80, and is based on 4 buy ratings, 1 hold rating, and no sell ratings.

  • Amount of Analyst Coverage

    First Merchants has only been the subject of 4 research reports in the past 90 days.

  • Read more about First Merchants' stock forecast and price target.
  • Earnings Growth

    Earnings for First Merchants are expected to grow by 7.12% in the coming year, from $3.79 to $4.06 per share.

  • Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

    The P/E ratio of First Merchants is 12.06, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 23.53.

  • Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

    The P/E ratio of First Merchants is 12.06, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 22.96.

  • Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

    First Merchants has a P/B Ratio of 1.10. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

  • Read more about First Merchants' valuation and earnings.
  • Percentage of Shares Shorted

    0.73% of the float of First Merchants has been sold short.
  • Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

    First Merchants has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.7, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.
  • Change versus previous month

    Short interest in First Merchants has recently increased by 30.43%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.
  • Dividend Yield

    First Merchants pays a meaningful dividend of 3.43%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

  • Dividend Growth

    First Merchants has been increasing its dividend for 13 years.

  • Dividend Coverage

    The dividend payout ratio of First Merchants is 40.94%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

  • Dividend Sustainability

    Based on earnings estimates, First Merchants will have a dividend payout ratio of 34.48% next year. This indicates that First Merchants will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

  • Read more about First Merchants' dividend.
  • Percentage of Shares Shorted

    0.73% of the float of First Merchants has been sold short.
  • Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

    First Merchants has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.7, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.
  • Change versus previous month

    Short interest in First Merchants has recently increased by 30.43%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.
  • News Sentiment

    First Merchants has a news sentiment score of 1.55. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.95 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.
  • News Coverage This Week

    MarketBeat has tracked 8 news articles for First Merchants this week, compared to 3 articles on an average week.
  • Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

    In the past three months, First Merchants insiders have bought more of their company's stock than they have sold. Specifically, they have bought $165.00 in company stock and sold $0.00 in company stock.

  • Percentage Held by Insiders

    Only 1.32% of the stock of First Merchants is held by insiders.

  • Percentage Held by Institutions

    73.92% of the stock of First Merchants is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

  • Read more about First Merchants' insider trading history.
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FRME Stock News Headlines

A brutally honest economic warning for 2025 (see proof)
New York Times best-selling financial author and world-renowned economist Addison Wiggin (a man who’s worked side-by-side with figures like Warren Buffett, Alan Greenspan, Ron Paul, Jim Rickards, and Steve Forbes, to name but a few) says....
First Merchants Corporation Announces Cash Dividend
First Merchants Corporation Announces Cash Dividend
See More Headlines

FRME Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

First Merchants' stock was trading at $39.89 at the beginning of the year. Since then, FRME stock has increased by 3.4% and is now trading at $41.26.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here
.

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January, 30th. The bank reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%.

Top institutional shareholders of First Merchants include PL Capital Advisors LLC (46.66%), Vanguard Group Inc. (10.80%), Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (5.99%) and Earnest Partners LLC (4.45%). Insiders that own company stock include Patrick J Fehring, Michael J Stewart, Michael C Rechin, Patrick A Sherman, Gary Lehman, Charles E Schalliol, Howard Halderman, Stephan Fluhler and Jason R Sondhi.
View institutional ownership trends
.

Shares of FRME stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that First Merchants investors own include Tesla (TSLA), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Netflix (NFLX) and Visa (V).

Company Calendar

Last Earnings
1/30/2025
Ex-Dividend for 3/21 Dividend
3/07/2025
Dividend Payable
3/21/2025
Today
3/24/2025
Next Earnings (Estimated)
4/24/2025
Fiscal Year End
12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

Stock Exchange
NASDAQ
Sector
Finance
Industry
National commercial banks
Sub-Industry
Regional Banks
Current Symbol
NASDAQ:FRME
Employees
2,120
Year Founded
1982

Price Target and Rating

Average Stock Price Target
$49.00
High Stock Price Target
$55.00
Low Stock Price Target
$38.00
Potential Upside/Downside
+18.8%
Consensus Rating
Moderate Buy
Rating Score (0-4)
2.80
Research Coverage
5 Analysts

Profitability

Trailing P/E Ratio
12.06
Forward P/E Ratio
10.89
P/E Growth
N/A
Net Income
$201.40 million
Pretax Margin
19.06%

Debt

Sales & Book Value

Annual Sales
$626.71 million
Cash Flow
$3.86 per share
Price / Cash Flow
10.69
Book Value
$37.42 per share
Price / Book
1.10

Miscellaneous

Free Float
57,897,000
Market Cap
$2.42 billion
Optionable
Optionable
Beta
1.05

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This page (NASDAQ:FRME) was last updated on 3/25/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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