Rhumbline Advisers Cuts Stock Holdings in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME)

Rhumbline Advisers reduced its stake in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 12.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 89,792 shares of the bank's stock after selling 12,339 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.15% of First Merchants worth $3,631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 3,889.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,377,823 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,092,101,000 after acquiring an additional 26,691,490 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter valued at about $23,739,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter valued at about $19,014,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 55.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank's stock valued at $37,133,000 after acquiring an additional 332,168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter valued at about $9,107,000. 73.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on FRME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective 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, April 25th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target 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. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.40.

First Merchants Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ FRME traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $35.72. 310,860 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 266,347. First Merchants Corporation has a 12-month low of $31.16 and a 12-month high of $46.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $36.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.76. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.03 and a beta of 1.03.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $160.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $171.23 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 19.63% and a return on equity of 9.28%. As a group, analysts expect that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This is a boost from First Merchants's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is 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.