American Century Companies Inc. Sells 289,600 Shares of First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in First Merchants Corporation by 20.8%, selling 289,600 shares and retaining 1,099,458 shares valued at approximately $44.46 million.
• Multiple large investors, including LPL Financial and Barclays PLC, increased their positions in First Merchants during the fourth quarter, indicating continued interest as hedge funds and institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.
• First Merchants announced a quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share, reflecting a 3.6% dividend yield, with the payout date set for September 19th.

American Century Companies Inc. decreased its position in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 20.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,099,458 shares of the bank's stock after selling 289,600 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 1.89% of First Merchants worth $44,462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 13,262 shares of the bank's stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 4th quarter valued at $1,225,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 809.9% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,838 shares of the bank's stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 1,636 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 121,969 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,866,000 after buying an additional 9,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position 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 buying an additional 108,929 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of 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 data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $48.25.

First Merchants Price Performance

First Merchants stock traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.32. The company had a trading volume of 22,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 285,950. The company has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.68 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.03. 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 fifty-two week low of $33.13 and a fifty-two week high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.04. First Merchants had a net margin of 21.35% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The company had revenue of $170.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.13 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.31%.

First Merchants Company 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.