Vest Financial LLC Invests $923,000 in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Vest Financial LLC purchased a new position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 22,816 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $923,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,388 shares of the bank's stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 26,908 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,073,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,308 shares of the bank's stock valued at $690,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 7,141 shares of the bank's stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 6.8% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen raised First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price target on First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.40.

First Merchants Price Performance

NASDAQ FRME traded down $0.45 on Wednesday, reaching $37.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 210,030 shares, compared to its average volume of 264,501. First Merchants Co. has a twelve month low of $30.80 and a twelve month high of $46.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm's 50 day moving average is $36.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.03.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.03. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The company had revenue of $160.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $171.23 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. This is a boost from First Merchants's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.45%.

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.