Citadel Advisors LLC Grows Stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Citadel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 43.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,781 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 12,600 shares during the period. Citadel Advisors LLC owned about 0.07% of First Merchants worth $1,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 89.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,290 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,176,000 after purchasing an additional 53,033 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 139.1% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the bank's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter worth about $270,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank's stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the period. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 44,139 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555 shares during the period. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FRME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Hovde Group raised shares of First Merchants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research 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 for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Merchants has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.40.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of FRME traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $37.89. 156,884 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 264,975. The company's 50-day moving average price is $37.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.43. First Merchants Co. has a 52-week low of $30.55 and a 52-week high of $46.13. The company has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.08 and a beta of 1.02. 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 (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.03. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%. The company had revenue of $160.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $171.23 million. On average, analysts anticipate that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. This is a boost from First Merchants's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.45%.

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.