First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Receives $46.40 Average Price Target from Analysts

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the five ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.40.

FRME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler cut their target price on First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Hovde Group raised First Merchants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

First Merchants Price Performance

FRME stock traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $37.28. The stock had a trading volume of 23,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 283,220. First Merchants has a 52-week low of $30.55 and a 52-week high of $46.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $38.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.51. The company has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.90 and a beta of 0.95.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $171.23 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. First Merchants's payout ratio is presently 39.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Merchants

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FRME. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 121,969 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,866,000 after purchasing an additional 9,679 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in First Merchants by 67.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 134,136 shares of the bank's stock worth $5,368,000 after buying an additional 54,265 shares during the period. Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in First Merchants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $607,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in 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 valued at $37,133,000 after buying an additional 332,168 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank's stock worth $122,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company's stock.

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.