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 twelve months. 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.
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3 Wall Street analysts have issued 1 year price objectives for First Merchants' stock. Their FRME share price forecasts range from $46.00 to $48.00. On average, they predict the company's share price to reach $47.00 in the next twelve months. This suggests a possible upside of 8.7% 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 the year. Since then, FRME stock has increased by 3.2% and is now trading at $43.22.
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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 earnings results on Monday, October, 25th. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.07. The bank earned $133.22 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $132.07 million. First Merchants had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 32.28%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share.

First Merchants declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share on Friday, September 16th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. 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 2.96%. The company has been increasing its dividend for 12 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 28.01% 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."

First Merchants' stock is owned by many different retail and institutional investors. Top institutional investors include State Street Corp (3.16%), Principal Financial Group Inc. (1.75%), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (1.73%), William Blair Investment Management LLC (1.59%), Victory Capital Management Inc. (1.43%) and PL Capital Advisors LLC (1.27%). Insiders that own company stock include Charles E Schalliol, Gary Lehman, Jeffrey B Lorentson, Mark K Hardwick, Michael C Marhenke, Michael C Marhenke, Michael C Rechin, Michael J Stewart, Michael R Becher, Patrick A Sherman, Patrick A Sherman, Patrick J Fehring, Stephan Fluhler and William L Hoy.
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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 $43.22.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) has a market capitalization of $2.57 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 was founded in 1982.

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.