First Merchants Corporation $FRME Stake Cut by Bridgeway Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Bridgeway Capital Management LLC has reduced its stake in First Merchants Corporation by 6.8%, selling 26,909 shares, and now owns approximately 0.63% of the company's total shares worth $14.9 million.
• Analysts have set a new average target price for First Merchants at $48.25, with Piper Sandler lowering their target from $49.00 to $48.00 while maintaining an "overweight" rating.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share, with a yield of 3.5%, which will be paid to shareholders on September 19th.

Bridgeway Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 6.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 369,055 shares of the bank's stock after selling 26,909 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC owned about 0.63% of First Merchants worth $14,925,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in First Merchants by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 8,445 shares of the bank's stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 58,032 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,315,000 after acquiring an additional 3,735 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 4th quarter valued at about $539,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in First Merchants by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 120,622 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,812,000 after purchasing an additional 19,063 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new stake in First Merchants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $274,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FRME. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, First Merchants currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.25.

First Merchants Stock Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:FRME traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $40.89. The stock had a trading volume of 159,987 shares, compared to its average volume of 282,251. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. First Merchants Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.13 and a 1-year high of $46.13. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.84. The company has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of 10.59 and a beta of 1.10.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $170.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.13 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 21.35% and a return on equity of 9.88%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. Analysts predict that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. First Merchants's payout ratio is currently 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.