First Merchants - FRME 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 2 buy ratings and 1 strong buy rating for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street equities research analysts is that investors should "buy" FRME shares.
View FRME analyst ratings or view top-rated stocks.

3 brokerages have issued 1-year price objectives for First Merchants' stock. Their FRME share price forecasts range from $46.00 to $50.00. On average, they anticipate the company's share price to reach $47.75 in the next year. This suggests a possible upside of 20.5% from the stock's current price.
View analysts price targets for FRME or view top-rated stocks among Wall Street analysts.

First Merchants' stock was trading at $41.89 at the beginning of 2022. Since then, FRME stock has decreased by 5.4% and is now trading at $39.63.
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The company is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Tuesday, October 25th 2022.
View our FRME earnings forecast.

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October, 25th. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.07. The bank had revenue of $133.22 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $132.07 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 32.28% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 11.04%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share.

First Merchants declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 10th. Investors of record on Friday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share on Friday, September 16th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 1st.
Read our dividend analysis for FRME.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 3.26%. The company has been increasing its dividend for 10 consecutive years, indicating the company has a strong committment to maintain and grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio is 37.54%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, FRME will have a dividend payout ratio of 27.65% next year. This indicates that the company will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.
Read our dividend analysis for FRME.

48 employees have rated First Merchants Chief Executive Officer Michael C. Rechin on Glassdoor.com. Michael C. Rechin has an approval rating of 82% among the company's employees.

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."

Shares of FRME stock 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 $39.63.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion and generates $555.96 million in revenue each year. The bank earns $205.53 million in net income (profit) each year or $3.41 on an earnings per share basis.

The company employs 1,821 workers across the globe.

First Merchants' mailing address is 200 EAST JACKSON STREET, MUNCIE IN, 47305. The official website for the company is www.firstmerchants.com. The bank can be reached via phone at (765) 747-1500, via email at nweaver@firstmerchants.com, or via fax at 765-282-6304.