First Merchants Corporation $FRME Shares Sold by Venture Visionary Partners LLC

Key Points

• Venture Visionary Partners LLC reduced its stake in First Merchants Corporation by 50.1%, now holding 13,529 shares valued at approximately $547,000.
• First Merchants recently reported earnings of $0.98 per share, exceeding analyst expectations of $0.94, with a revenue of $170.52 million for the quarter.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 3.6%, with a payout ratio of 37.31%.

Venture Visionary Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 50.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,529 shares of the bank's stock after selling 13,571 shares during the quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC's holdings in First Merchants were worth $547,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FRME. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in First Merchants by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 13,262 shares of the bank's stock worth $529,000 after buying an additional 468 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter valued at $1,225,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 809.9% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,838 shares of the bank's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 1,636 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 121,969 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,866,000 after purchasing an additional 9,679 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 689,556 shares of the bank's stock valued at $27,506,000 after purchasing an additional 108,929 shares during the period. 73.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Merchants Stock Up 1.3%

First Merchants stock traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $41.57. The stock had a trading volume of 37,783 shares, compared to its average volume of 286,070. The company has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.08. 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's 50 day moving average price is $39.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.03. First Merchants Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.13 and a 52 week high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $170.52 million for 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FRME has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target 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.