Nuveen Asset Management LLC Acquires 43,066 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 626,508 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 43,066 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned about 1.07% of First Merchants worth $24,991,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in First Merchants by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 33,186 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265 shares during the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in First Merchants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $386,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in First Merchants by 52.0% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,296 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,927,000 after acquiring an additional 16,531 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in First Merchants by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 21,083 shares of the bank's stock valued at $841,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citadel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in First Merchants by 43.2% in the fourth quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 41,781 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,667,000 after acquiring an additional 12,600 shares during the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FRME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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. Hovde Group raised shares of First Merchants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler decreased 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.40.

First Merchants Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FRME traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $37.83. 10,443 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 264,145. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 1.02. First Merchants Co. has a twelve month low of $30.55 and a twelve month high of $46.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.45 and a 200 day moving average of $40.49. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $160.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $171.23 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. On average, analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS 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 is a boost from First Merchants's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio 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.