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First Merchants (FRME) Stock Price, News & Analysis

First Merchants logo
$36.71 +0.53 (+1.46%)
Closing price 04:00 PM Eastern
Extended Trading
$36.72 +0.01 (+0.03%)
As of 04:10 PM Eastern
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About First Merchants Stock (NASDAQ:FRME)

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Key Stats

Today's Range
$36.29
$36.81
50-Day Range
$36.18
$41.88
52-Week Range
$33.13
$46.13
Volume
255,309 shs
Average Volume
294,231 shs
Market Capitalization
$2.12 billion
P/E Ratio
9.51
Dividend Yield
3.92%
Price Target
$48.00
Consensus Rating
Moderate Buy

Company Overview

First Merchants Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

See Top-Rated MarketRank™ Stocks
99th Percentile Overall Score

FRME MarketRank™: 

First Merchants scored higher than 99% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 40th out of 945 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 2.71, and is based on 3 buy ratings, 3 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

  • Upside Potential

    First Merchants has a consensus price target of $48.00, representing about 31.4% upside from its current price of $36.53.

  • Amount of Analyst Coverage

    First Merchants has been the subject of 6 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

  • 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 9.46, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 231.90.

  • Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

    The P/E ratio of First Merchants is 9.46, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 29.92.

  • Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

    First Merchants has a P/B Ratio of 0.94. P/B Ratios below 1 indicate that a company could be undervalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

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

    1.09% of the outstanding shares of First Merchants have been sold short.
  • Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

    First Merchants has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.1, 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 2.61%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.
  • Dividend Leadership

    First Merchants is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 3.98%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

  • Dividend Growth

    First Merchants has been increasing its dividend for 13 years.

  • Dividend Coverage

    The dividend payout ratio of First Merchants is 37.31%. 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 35.47% 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

    1.09% of the outstanding shares of First Merchants have been sold short.
  • Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

    First Merchants has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.1, 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 2.61%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.
  • News Sentiment

    First Merchants has a news sentiment score of -0.06. 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 lower news sentiment than the 0.82 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.
  • News Coverage This Week

    MarketBeat has tracked 5 news articles for First Merchants this week, compared to 5 articles on an average week.
  • Search Interest

    Only 1 people have searched for FRME on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -50% compared to the previous 30 days.
  • Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

    In the past three months, First Merchants insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

  • Percentage Held by Insiders

    Only 1.40% 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

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen
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Raymond James Downgrades First Merchants (FRME)
See More Headlines

FRME Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

First Merchants' stock was trading at $39.89 at the beginning of 2025. Since then, FRME shares have decreased by 8.4% and is now trading at $36.53.

First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July, 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.04. The bank had revenue of $170.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.13 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 21.35% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 9.88%.
Read the conference call transcript
.

First Merchants' top institutional shareholders include Wedge Capital Management L L P NC (0.05%) and Voya Investment Management LLC (0.02%). Insiders that own company stock include Patrick J Fehring, Michael J Stewart, Michael C Rechin, 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
7/23/2025
Record date for 9/19 Dividend
9/05/2025
Ex-Dividend for 9/19 Dividend
9/05/2025
Dividend Payable
9/19/2025
Today
10/13/2025
Next Earnings (Estimated)
10/22/2025
Fiscal Year End
12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

Stock Exchange
NASDAQ
Sector
Finance
Industry
BANKS - MIDWEST
Sub-Industry
Regional Banks
Current Symbol
NASDAQ:FRME
CIK
712534
Employees
2,120
Year Founded
1982

Price Target and Rating

High Price Target
$50.00
Low Price Target
$46.00
Potential Upside/Downside
+32.7%
Consensus Rating
Moderate Buy
Rating Score (0-4)
2.71
Research Coverage
7 Analysts

Profitability

EPS (Trailing Twelve Months)
$3.86
Trailing P/E Ratio
9.37
Forward P/E Ratio
9.55
P/E Growth
N/A
Net Income
$201.40 million
Net Margins
21.35%
Pretax Margin
24.72%
Return on Equity
9.88%
Return on Assets
1.23%

Debt

Debt-to-Equity Ratio
0.41
Current Ratio
0.90
Quick Ratio
0.90

Sales & Book Value

Annual Sales
$1.07 billion
Price / Sales
1.95
Cash Flow
$3.95 per share
Price / Cash Flow
9.15
Book Value
$38.86 per share
Price / Book
0.93

Miscellaneous

Outstanding Shares
57,730,000
Free Float
56,924,000
Market Cap
$2.09 billion
Optionable
Optionable
Beta
1.05

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This page (NASDAQ:FRME) was last updated on 10/13/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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