Renaissance Technologies LLC Makes New Investment in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 30,720 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $1,225,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.05% of First Merchants as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FRME. PL Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,092,101,000 after purchasing an additional 26,691,490 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,336,937 shares of the bank's stock valued at $252,780,000 after buying an additional 138,689 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in First Merchants by 1.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank's stock valued at $32,962,000 after buying an additional 11,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in First Merchants by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 820,649 shares of the bank's stock valued at $32,736,000 after purchasing an additional 19,932 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FRME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective 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 target price on First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Hovde Group raised 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.40.

First Merchants Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of FRME stock traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $36.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 283,061. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $38.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. First Merchants Co. has a one year low of $30.55 and a one year high of $46.13.

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

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.