Vanguard Group Inc. Has $252.27 Million Position in First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. has decreased its stake in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 1.6% during Q1, now owning 6,238,131 shares valued at approximately $252.27 million.
• First Merchants recently reported a quarterly EPS of $0.98, exceeding expectations of $0.94, with total revenue of $170.52 million, which was below analyst forecasts.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share with an annualized yield of 3.7%, set to be paid on September 19th.

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its holdings in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,238,131 shares of the bank's stock after selling 98,806 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.70% of First Merchants worth $252,270,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,101 shares of the bank's stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 0.9% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 41,288 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,670,000 after buying an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 13,262 shares of the bank's stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 11.2% during the first quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 7,335 shares of the bank's stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 739 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 4.3% during 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 period. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Merchants Trading Up 5.2%

NASDAQ:FRME traded up $2.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $41.74. The company had a trading volume of 320,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 232,889. First Merchants Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.13 and a fifty-two week high of $46.13. The business's fifty day moving average is $39.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 1.08.

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

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

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 3.4%. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is 37.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on FRME. Wall Street Zen raised First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.25.

First Merchants Company 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.