Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys New Shares in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 476,657 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $19,014,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.81% of First Merchants as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FRME. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in First Merchants by 139.1% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the bank's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in First Merchants by 270.1% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,728 shares of the bank's stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,991 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank's stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sciencast Management LP bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter valued at $203,000. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on FRME shares. Hovde Group upgraded First Merchants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 target price (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report 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.com, First Merchants has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.60.

First Merchants Stock Performance

NASDAQ FRME traded down $0.70 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $35.80. 51,514 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 283,599. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. First Merchants Co. has a 52 week low of $30.55 and a 52 week high of $46.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.45 and a beta of 0.95. The business's fifty day moving average price is $39.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.54.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $160.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $171.23 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%. Equities research analysts predict that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.91%. First Merchants's payout ratio is currently 40.94%.

First Merchants Company 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.