First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.37

Key Points

• First Merchants declared a quarterly dividend of $0.37 per share, payable September 18 to shareholders of record on September 4. The dividend implies an annualized payout of $1.48 and a yield of approximately 3.6%.
• The company has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years, with a payout ratio of 36.8%, suggesting the dividend is currently well covered by earnings. Analysts expect a future payout ratio of about 33.3%.
• First Merchants’ shares recently traded down 1.4% to $40.91, while the bank’s latest quarterly earnings of $0.74 per share fell short of the $1.02 analyst consensus estimate.

First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.37 per share by the bank on Friday, September 18th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th.

First Merchants has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 13 years. First Merchants has a payout ratio of 36.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect First Merchants to earn $4.45 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.3%.

First Merchants Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $40.91 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. First Merchants has a 12 month low of $34.66 and a 12 month high of $45.33. The company has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.96.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.28). First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.86% and a net margin of 17.05%.The company had revenue of $202.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.78 million. Sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Company Profile

First Merchants Corporation, through its subsidiary First Merchants Bank, offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and public sector clients. The company's core business activities include retail and commercial banking, lending, treasury and cash management, and wealth advisory services. With a focus on relationship banking, First Merchants seeks to deliver tailored solutions for deposit accounts, loan financing and other credit products.

On the consumer side, First Merchants provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, personal and mortgage loans, and electronic banking conveniences.

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