First Merchants Corporation $FRME Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Key Points

• Vanguard trimmed its stake in First Merchants by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, but still held about 5.98 million shares valued at roughly $224.3 million, or 10.35% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but modestly positive, with the stock carrying an average "Moderate Buy" rating and an average price target of $48.33; Piper Sandler recently raised its target to $49 while Wall Street Zen downgraded the shares to "sell."
• First Merchants reported stronger-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter, posting EPS of $1.03 versus the $0.96 consensus, while also paying a quarterly dividend of $0.36, equal to a 3.6% annualized yield.

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,983,901 shares of the bank's stock after selling 94,617 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.35% of First Merchants worth $224,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants during the third quarter worth about $2,105,000. Vest Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants during the third quarter worth about $1,297,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 121.1% during the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 98,523 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,714,000 after purchasing an additional 53,953 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 8.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 947,498 shares of the bank's stock worth $35,721,000 after purchasing an additional 73,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants during the third quarter worth about $754,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FRME shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of First Merchants from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of First Merchants from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of First Merchants from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $48.33.

First Merchants Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $40.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.94. First Merchants Corporation has a one year low of $34.66 and a one year high of $43.22. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $39.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.54. The stock has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.89 and a beta of 0.86.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.07. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.58% and a net margin of 18.87%.The business had revenue of $163.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $201.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants Corporation will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.35%.

Insider Transactions at First Merchants

In related news, VP Larry W. Myers sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total value of $207,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 109,491 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,543,876.50. This represents a 4.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

First Merchants Company Profile

First Merchants Corporation, through its subsidiary First Merchants Bank, offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and public sector clients. The company's core business activities include retail and commercial banking, lending, treasury and cash management, and wealth advisory services. With a focus on relationship banking, First Merchants seeks to deliver tailored solutions for deposit accounts, loan financing and other credit products.

On the consumer side, First Merchants provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, personal and mortgage loans, and electronic banking conveniences.

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