First Merchants Corporation $FRME Shares Sold by William Blair Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management cut its First Merchants stake by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 79,270 shares and ending with 763,904 shares worth about $28.6 million.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: Weiss Ratings downgraded the stock to hold, while Piper Sandler raised its price target to $49 and kept an overweight rating. The consensus rating remains Hold with an average target price of $48.33.
• First Merchants reported Q1 earnings of $1.03 per share, beating estimates, and increased its quarterly dividend to $0.37 per share from $0.36, implying a 3.7% yield.

William Blair Investment Management LLC lowered its position in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 763,904 shares of the bank's stock after selling 79,270 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 1.32% of First Merchants worth $28,631,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 27,081,812.5% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 15,165,871 shares of the bank's stock worth $568,417,000 after buying an additional 15,165,815 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,005,625 shares of the bank's stock valued at $76,815,000 after purchasing an additional 6,924 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 64.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,346,300 shares of the bank's stock valued at $50,756,000 after purchasing an additional 527,545 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 947,498 shares of the bank's stock valued at $35,721,000 after purchasing an additional 73,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 691,565 shares of the bank's stock valued at $26,072,000 after purchasing an additional 13,400 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of First Merchants from a "buy (b)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of First Merchants from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $48.33.

Insider Transactions at First Merchants

In other First Merchants news, VP Larry W. Myers sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total transaction of $207,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 109,491 shares in the company, valued at $4,543,876.50. This represents a 4.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

First Merchants Price Performance

First Merchants stock opened at $40.14 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 0.86. First Merchants Corporation has a twelve month low of $34.66 and a twelve month high of $43.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a 50 day moving average of $39.41 and a 200-day moving average of $38.81.

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

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is a boost from First Merchants's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.35%.

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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