36,436 Shares in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Purchased by Dark Forest Capital Management LP

Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 36,436 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $1,453,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.06% of First Merchants at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FRME. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in First Merchants by 3,889.0% in the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,377,823 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,092,101,000 after purchasing an additional 26,691,490 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in First Merchants by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,336,937 shares of the bank's stock worth $252,780,000 after acquiring an additional 138,689 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in First Merchants by 55.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank's stock worth $37,133,000 after acquiring an additional 332,168 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank's stock valued at $32,962,000 after purchasing an additional 11,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 820,649 shares of the bank's stock valued at $32,736,000 after purchasing an additional 19,932 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on FRME shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $55.00 target price (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Hovde Group raised First Merchants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.60.

First Merchants Stock Performance

FRME traded down $0.18 during trading on Monday, hitting $35.38. 111,780 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 283,433. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.35 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.60. 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 (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.03. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The firm had revenue of $160.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $171.23 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is presently 39.33%.

About First Merchants

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.