Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Reduces Stock Holdings in First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Key Points

• Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP has significantly reduced its stake in First Merchants Corporation by 60.8% during the first quarter, bringing its holdings down to 5,852 shares worth approximately $237,000.
• First Merchants announced a quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share, with a dividend yield of 3.4%, to be paid on September 19th.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Buy" for First Merchants stock, with an average target price of $48.25.

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP lessened its position in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 60.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,852 shares of the bank's stock after selling 9,084 shares during the quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP's holdings in First Merchants were worth $237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FRME. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in First Merchants during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $24,523,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 100.4% in the 1st quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 247,024 shares of the bank's stock valued at $9,984,000 after purchasing an additional 123,738 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 689,556 shares of the bank's stock valued at $27,506,000 after purchasing an additional 108,929 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 749,055 shares of the bank's stock valued at $29,880,000 after purchasing an additional 66,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,680,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FRME has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen raised First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, First Merchants presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.25.

First Merchants Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of FRME stock traded down $0.15 on Thursday, reaching $41.64. 39,910 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 285,185. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $39.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 1.08. First Merchants Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.13 and a 52 week high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $170.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.13 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 21.35%.During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. First Merchants's payout ratio is 37.31%.

First Merchants 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.