SG Americas Securities LLC Invests $658,000 in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME)

SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 16,267 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $658,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FRME. PL Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 3,889.0% in the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,377,823 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,092,101,000 after buying an additional 26,691,490 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,336,937 shares of the bank's stock worth $252,780,000 after acquiring an additional 138,689 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 55.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank's stock worth $37,133,000 after acquiring an additional 332,168 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in First Merchants by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 820,649 shares of the bank's stock valued at $32,736,000 after acquiring an additional 19,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its stake in First Merchants by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 749,055 shares of the bank's stock valued at $29,880,000 after purchasing an additional 66,380 shares during the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on FRME. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.40.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FRME traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $37.13. The company's stock had a trading volume of 271,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 268,354. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.43 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $37.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.53. First Merchants Corporation has a 12-month low of $31.16 and a 12-month high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.03. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.28% and a net margin of 19.63%. The business had revenue of $160.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $171.23 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. This is a boost from First Merchants's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. First Merchants's 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.