First Merchants Corporation $FRME Stock Holdings Lessened by Vanguard Group Inc.

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. reduced its stake in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,238,131 shares of the bank's stock after selling 98,806 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.70% of First Merchants worth $252,270,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FRME. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 749,055 shares of the bank's stock worth $29,880,000 after buying an additional 66,380 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in First Merchants by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 689,556 shares of the bank's stock worth $27,506,000 after acquiring an additional 108,929 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 626,508 shares of the bank's stock worth $24,991,000 after acquiring an additional 43,066 shares during the period. Capital International Investors acquired a new stake in First Merchants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $23,739,000. Finally, Phocas Financial Corp. raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. now owns 281,626 shares of the bank's stock valued at $11,234,000 after purchasing an additional 41,396 shares during the period. 73.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FRME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, First Merchants has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.25.

First Merchants Stock Up 5.2%

Shares of First Merchants stock traded up $2.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $41.74. The company had a trading volume of 320,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 232,889. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. First Merchants Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.13 and a fifty-two week high of $46.13. The firm's fifty day moving average is $39.05 and its 200-day moving average is $39.10. The company has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 1.08.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.31%.

About First Merchants

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.