Rhumbline Advisers Trims Stock Holdings in First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Key Points

• Rhumbline Advisers has reduced its stake in First Merchants Corporation by 12.1%, now owning 89,792 shares worth approximately $3.63 million.
• First Merchants Corporation reported an EPS of $0.98 for its latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, despite revenues falling slightly short with $170.52 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share, offering an annualized yield of 3.6%.

Rhumbline Advisers reduced its stake in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 12.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,792 shares of the bank's stock after selling 12,339 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.15% of First Merchants worth $3,631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FRME. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 120,622 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,812,000 after acquiring an additional 19,063 shares in the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC lifted its position in First Merchants by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 41,781 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,667,000 after buying an additional 12,600 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in First Merchants by 52.0% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,296 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,927,000 after buying an additional 16,531 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in First Merchants by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 33,186 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,324,000 after buying an additional 1,265 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in First Merchants by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 626,508 shares of the bank's stock worth $24,991,000 after buying an additional 43,066 shares during the period. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME opened at $39.65 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a PE ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.72. First Merchants Corporation has a 12 month low of $33.13 and a 12 month high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $170.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.13 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 21.35%.During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. First Merchants's payout ratio is 37.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on FRME. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $48.25.

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.

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