Guggenheim Capital LLC Sells 196,606 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Guggenheim Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 87.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,735 shares of the bank's stock after selling 196,606 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC's holdings in First Merchants were worth $1,146,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 3,889.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,377,823 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,092,101,000 after purchasing an additional 26,691,490 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter worth $19,014,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 55.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank's stock worth $37,133,000 after purchasing an additional 332,168 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter worth $7,251,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,336,937 shares of the bank's stock worth $252,780,000 after purchasing an additional 138,689 shares during the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Merchants Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:FRME traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $35.61. The company had a trading volume of 352,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 263,788. First Merchants Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.55 and a fifty-two week high of $46.13. The business's fifty day moving average is $39.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.59. 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 has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41 and a beta of 0.95.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%. The firm had revenue of $160.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $171.23 million. As a group, research analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants's payout ratio is 39.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on FRME shares. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. 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. Raymond James cut their price target on First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, First Merchants has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.40.

First Merchants 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.