First Merchants Stock Forecast, Price & News

3 Wall Street equities research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for First Merchants in the last year. There are currently 3 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street equities research analysts is that investors should "buy" First Merchants stock.
View analyst ratings for First Merchants or view top-rated stocks.

Wall Street analysts have given First Merchants a "Buy" rating, but there may be better short-term opportunities in the market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new trading ideas, but First Merchants wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five stocks may be even better buys.
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First Merchants is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Thursday, April 22nd 2021.
View our earnings forecast for First Merchants.

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January, 27th. The bank reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks' consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.17. First Merchants had a net margin of 26.65% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 8.50%.
View First Merchants' earnings history.

First Merchants' stock was trading at $29.18 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, FRME shares have increased by 44.1% and is now trading at $42.05.
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First Merchants declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share on Friday, March 19th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 4th.
View First Merchants' dividend history.

First Merchants pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.42%. First Merchants does not yet have a strock track record of dividend growth. The dividend payout ratio of First Merchants is 30.06%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, First Merchants will have a dividend payout ratio of 41.60% next year. This indicates that First Merchants will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.
View First Merchants' dividend history.

3 analysts have issued 1-year price targets for First Merchants' shares. Their forecasts range from $28.00 to $46.00. On average, they anticipate First Merchants' stock price to reach $36.33 in the next year. This suggests that the stock has a possible downside of 13.6%.
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48 employees have rated First Merchants CEO Michael C. Rechin on Glassdoor.com. Michael C. Rechin has an approval rating of 82% among First Merchants' employees.

Some companies that are related to First Merchants include Truist Financial (TFC), The PNC Financial Services Group (PNC), First Republic Bank (FRC), SVB Financial Group (SIVB), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), Regions Financial (RF), KeyCorp (KEY), M&T Bank (MTB), Huntington Bancshares (HBAN), Signature Bank (SBNY), East West Bancorp (EWBC), Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL), First Horizon (FHN), Zions Bancorporation, National Association (ZION) and Commerce Bancshares (CBSH).
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Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some companies that other First Merchants investors own include BankFinancial (BFIN), Energy Transfer (ET), Main Street Capital (MAIN), Enterprise Products Partners (EPD), AbbVie (ABBV), Comerica (CMA), Huntington Bancshares (HBAN), International Business Machines (IBM), Iron Mountain (IRM) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM).

First Merchants trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "FRME."

First Merchants' stock is owned by many different institutional and retail investors. Top institutional investors include BlackRock Inc. (7.25%), Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (5.15%), Cardinal Capital Management LLC CT (4.09%), Bank of New York Mellon Corp (2.24%), Northern Trust Corp (2.22%) and The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (1.32%). Company insiders that own First Merchants stock include Charles E Schalliol, Gary Lehman, Jeffrey B Lorentson, Mark K Hardwick, Michael C Marhenke, Michael C Rechin, Michael J Stewart, Patrick A Sherman and Stephan Fluhler.
View institutional ownership trends for First Merchants.

FRME stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Renaissance Technologies LLC, Nuveen Asset Management LLC, Pier Capital LLC, Victory Capital Management Inc., ExodusPoint Capital Management LP, Boston Partners, Boston Partners, and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP. Company insiders that have sold First Merchants company stock in the last year include Michael C Rechin, and Michael J Stewart.
View insider buying and selling activity for First Merchants or view top insider-selling stocks.

FRME stock was purchased by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Cardinal Capital Management LLC CT, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of New York Mellon Corp, Russell Investments Group Ltd., Advisory Research Inc., Schroder Investment Management Group, Comerica Bank, and Principal Financial Group Inc.. Company insiders that have bought First Merchants stock in the last two years include Gary Lehman, Mark K Hardwick, Michael C Marhenke, and Patrick A Sherman.
View insider buying and selling activity for First Merchants or or view top insider-buying stocks.

Shares of FRME can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include WeBull, Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Robinhood, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab.
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One share of FRME stock can currently be purchased for approximately $42.05.

First Merchants has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion and generates $552.09 million in revenue each year. The bank earns $164.46 million in net income (profit) each year or $3.46 on an earnings per share basis.

First Merchants employs 1,891 workers across the globe.

The official website for First Merchants is www.firstmerchants.com.

First Merchants is headquartered at 200 EAST JACKSON STREET, MUNCIE IN, 47305.

First Merchants' mailing address is 200 EAST JACKSON STREET, MUNCIE IN, 47305. The bank can be reached via phone at 765-747-1500 or via email at [email protected]