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NASDAQ:FRME

First Merchants (FRME) Stock Price, News & Analysis

First Merchants logo
$40.55 +0.53 (+1.32%)
Closing price 04:00 PM Eastern
Extended Trading
$40.53 -0.02 (-0.04%)
As of 04:10 PM Eastern
Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Massive. Learn more.

About First Merchants Stock (NASDAQ:FRME)

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Key Stats

Today's Range
$40.04
$40.81
50-Day Range
$36.43
$42.37
52-Week Range
$34.66
$43.22
Volume
210,379 shs
Average Volume
398,707 shs
Market Capitalization
$2.57 billion
P/E Ratio
11.93
Dividend Yield
3.55%
Price Target
$48.33
Consensus Rating
Moderate Buy

Company Overview

First Merchants Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

See Top-Rated MarketRank™ Stocks
93rd Percentile Overall Score

FRME MarketRank™: 

First Merchants scored higher than 93% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 121st out of 878 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

  • Consensus Rating

    First Merchants has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.50, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 3 buy ratings, 3 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

  • Upside Potential

    First Merchants has a consensus price target of $48.33, representing about 18.8% upside from its current price of $40.69.

  • Amount of Analyst Coverage

    First Merchants has only been the subject of 2 research reports in the past 90 days.

  • Read more about First Merchants' stock forecast and price target.
  • Earnings Growth

    Earnings for First Merchants are expected to grow by 6.84% in the coming year, from $4.24 to $4.53 per share.

  • Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

    The P/E ratio of First Merchants is 11.95, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 38.55.

  • Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

    The P/E ratio of First Merchants is 11.95, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 23.31.

  • Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

    First Merchants has a P/B Ratio of 0.96. P/B Ratios below 1 indicate that a company could be undervalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

  • Read more about First Merchants' valuation and earnings.
  • Percentage of Shares Shorted

    2.00% of the float of First Merchants has been sold short.
  • Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

    First Merchants has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.45, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.
  • Change versus previous month

    Short interest in First Merchants has recently decreased by 0.71%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.
  • Dividend Leadership

    First Merchants is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 3.56%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

  • Dividend Growth

    First Merchants has been increasing its dividend for 13 years.

  • Dividend Coverage

    The dividend payout ratio of First Merchants is 42.35%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

  • Dividend Sustainability

    Based on earnings estimates, First Merchants will have a dividend payout ratio of 31.79% next year. This indicates that First Merchants will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

  • Read more about First Merchants' dividend.
  • News Sentiment

    First Merchants has a news sentiment score of 0.58. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.71 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.
  • News Coverage This Week

    MarketBeat has tracked 2 news articles for First Merchants this week, compared to 3 articles on an average week.
  • Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

    In the past three months, First Merchants insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $343,970.00 in company stock.

  • Percentage Held by Insiders

    1.77% of the stock of First Merchants is held by insiders.

  • Percentage Held by Institutions

    73.92% of the stock of First Merchants is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

  • Read more about First Merchants' insider trading history.
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FRME Stock News Headlines

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See More Headlines

FRME Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

First Merchants' stock was trading at $37.48 at the beginning of 2026. Since then, FRME stock has increased by 8.6% and is now trading at $40.69.

First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) released its earnings results on Wednesday, April, 22nd. The bank reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.07. The bank earned $163.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $201.91 million. First Merchants had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 18.87%.
Read the conference call transcript
.

First Merchants' top institutional shareholders include First Merchants Corp (0.83%), Peregrine Capital Management LLC (0.19%), Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd (0.13%) and Principal Financial Group Inc. (0.11%). Insiders that own company stock include Patrick J Fehring, Larry W Myers, Michael J Stewart, Michael C Rechin, Howard Halderman, Stephan Fluhler, Eva D Scurlock and Jason R Sondhi.
View institutional ownership trends
.

Shares of FRME stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that First Merchants investors own include Tesla (TSLA), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Netflix (NFLX) and Visa (V).

Company Calendar

Record date for 3/20 Dividend
3/06/2026
Ex-Dividend for 3/20 Dividend
3/06/2026
Dividend Payable
3/20/2026
Last Earnings
4/22/2026
Today
5/05/2026
Next Earnings (Estimated)
7/22/2026
Fiscal Year End
12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

Stock Exchange
NASDAQ
Sector
Finance
Industry
BANKS - MIDWEST
Sub-Industry
Regional Banks
Current Symbol
NASDAQ:FRME
CIK
712534
Employees
2,086
Year Founded
1982

Price Target and Rating

High Price Target
$50.00
Low Price Target
$46.00
Potential Upside/Downside
+19.2%
Consensus Rating
Moderate Buy
Rating Score (0-4)
2.50
Research Coverage
6 Analysts

Profitability

EPS (Trailing Twelve Months)
$3.40
Trailing P/E Ratio
11.93
Forward P/E Ratio
9.56
P/E Growth
N/A
Net Income
$226 million
Net Margins
18.87%
Pretax Margin
24.64%
Return on Equity
9.85%
Return on Assets
1.25%

Debt

Debt-to-Equity Ratio
0.35
Current Ratio
0.91
Quick Ratio
0.90

Sales & Book Value

Annual Sales
$1.05 billion
Price / Sales
2.44
Cash Flow
$4.44 per share
Price / Cash Flow
9.13
Book Value
$42.22 per share
Price / Book
0.96

Miscellaneous

Outstanding Shares
63,330,000
Free Float
62,205,000
Market Cap
$2.57 billion
Optionable
Optionable
Beta
0.86

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This page (NASDAQ:FRME) was last updated on 5/5/2026 by MarketBeat.com Staff.
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