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 recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of First Merchants from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of First Merchants to $46.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 27th.
First Merchants Stock Performance
FRME Stock traded down $0.33 on Friday, hitting $42.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 229 shares, compared to its average volume of 154,228. The stock has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.67 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $38.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. First Merchants has a 1 year low of $34.07 and a 1 year high of $46.12.
First Merchants Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 1st. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.54%.