Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd Makes New Investment in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 7,800 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 89.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,290 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,176,000 after buying an additional 53,033 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 139.1% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the bank's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the period. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants in the fourth quarter valued at $270,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank's stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the period. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its holdings in First Merchants by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 44,139 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FRME shares. Raymond James decreased their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.40.

First Merchants Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:FRME traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $39.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 55,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 264,824. 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 capitalization of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.61. First Merchants Co. has a 1 year low of $30.55 and a 1 year high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $160.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $171.23 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%. Research analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This is a positive change from First Merchants's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is presently 39.33%.

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.