First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Upgraded to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on FRME. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Hovde Group raised shares of First Merchants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.40.

First Merchants Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of FRME traded up $0.32 on Friday, reaching $37.89. 156,884 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 264,975. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.08 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.43. First Merchants has a 12 month low of $30.55 and a 12 month high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $160.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $171.23 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. Research analysts anticipate that First Merchants will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Merchants

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 26,691,490 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the first quarter worth $24,523,000. Capital International Investors bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter worth $23,739,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the fourth quarter worth $19,014,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 332,168 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company's stock.

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.