First Trust Advisors LP Buys 108,929 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 18.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 689,556 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 108,929 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 1.18% of First Merchants worth $27,506,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FRME. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in First Merchants by 3,889.0% in the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,377,823 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,092,101,000 after buying an additional 26,691,490 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 4th quarter valued at $23,739,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 4th quarter valued at $19,014,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 332,168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in First Merchants in the fourth quarter worth $9,107,000. 73.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James reduced 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. Piper Sandler lowered their price target 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 dropped their price target on shares of First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Hovde Group upgraded shares of First Merchants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, First Merchants currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.40.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of First Merchants stock traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $35.94. The company had a trading volume of 53,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 264,031. The stock has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a PE ratio of 10.52 and a beta of 0.95. First Merchants Co. has a 1-year low of $30.55 and a 1-year high of $46.13. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $38.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $171.23 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is currently 39.33%.

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.