First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $46.40.

FRME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded First Merchants from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th.

First Merchants Price Performance

First Merchants stock opened at $35.72 on Thursday. First Merchants has a one year low of $31.16 and a one year high of $46.13. The company has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.03 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $36.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.03. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.28% and a net margin of 19.63%. The business had revenue of $160.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $171.23 million. As a group, analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This is a boost from First Merchants's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.45%.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FRME. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in First Merchants during the 4th quarter worth about $233,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in First Merchants by 270.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,728 shares of the bank's stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 1,991 shares during the period. Peregrine Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in First Merchants by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 152,449 shares of the bank's stock valued at $6,081,000 after buying an additional 21,331 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in First Merchants by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 104,763 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,179,000 after buying an additional 1,822 shares during the period. Finally, Waterfront Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in First Merchants by 0.9% in 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.

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