First Merchants Corporation operates as the financial holding company for First Merchants Bank that provides community banking services. It accepts time, savings, and demand deposits; and provides consumer, commercial, agri-business, and real estate mortgage loans, as well as public finance. The company also offers personal and corporate trust; brokerage and private wealth management; and letters of credit, repurchase agreements, and other corporate services. It operates 109 banking locations in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan counties. The company also offers its services through electronic and mobile delivery channels. First Merchants Corporation was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Muncie, Indiana.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several analysts have commented on FRME shares. Raymond James upgraded shares of First Merchants from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 7th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of First Merchants to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 27th.
First Merchants Trading Up 0.3 %
Shares of FRME traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $40.74. The stock had a trading volume of 131,636 shares, compared to its average volume of 173,152. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. First Merchants has a 52 week low of $34.07 and a 52 week high of $46.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.82 and a 200 day moving average of $40.41. The company has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 1.13.
First Merchants Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 3rd were given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 2nd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. This is a boost from First Merchants's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.54%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other First Merchants news, Director Patrick J. Fehring sold 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.43, for a total transaction of $55,202.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 149,988 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,914,026.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other First Merchants news, Director Patrick J. Fehring sold 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.43, for a total transaction of $55,202.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 149,988 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,914,026.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Patrick J. Fehring sold 10,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.40, for a total transaction of $399,360.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 138,988 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,337,139.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.24% of the company's stock.