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First Merchants (FRME) Competitors

First Merchants logo
$37.07 -0.39 (-1.04%)
Closing price 08/7/2025 04:00 PM Eastern
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$37.08 +0.01 (+0.03%)
As of 08/7/2025 04:10 PM Eastern
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FRME vs. BUSE, EFSC, FFBC, OBK, PPBI, STBA, TOWN, UBSI, WSBC, and WSFS

Should you be buying First Merchants stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of First Merchants include First Busey (BUSE), Enterprise Financial Services (EFSC), First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC), Origin Bancorp (OBK), Pacific Premier Bancorp (PPBI), S&T Bancorp (STBA), Towne Bank (TOWN), United Bankshares (UBSI), WesBanco (WSBC), and WSFS Financial (WSFS). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.

First Merchants vs. Its Competitors

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) and First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, media sentiment, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

First Merchants has higher revenue and earnings than First Busey. First Merchants is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Busey, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
First Busey$663.36M2.96$113.69M$1.1219.71
First Merchants$1.07B1.99$201.40M$3.869.60

56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.9% of First Merchants shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.9% of First Busey shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of First Merchants shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

In the previous week, First Busey had 6 more articles in the media than First Merchants. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for First Busey and 3 mentions for First Merchants. First Merchants' average media sentiment score of 1.77 beat First Busey's score of -0.44 indicating that First Merchants is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
First Busey
2 Very Positive mention(s)
1 Positive mention(s)
2 Neutral mention(s)
1 Negative mention(s)
3 Very Negative mention(s)
Neutral
First Merchants
3 Very Positive mention(s)
0 Positive mention(s)
0 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Very Positive

First Merchants has a net margin of 21.35% compared to First Busey's net margin of 9.48%. First Merchants' return on equity of 9.88% beat First Busey's return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
First Busey9.48% 9.76% 1.11%
First Merchants 21.35%9.88%1.23%

First Busey currently has a consensus target price of $27.17, indicating a potential upside of 23.04%. First Merchants has a consensus target price of $48.25, indicating a potential upside of 30.16%. Given First Merchants' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe First Merchants is more favorable than First Busey.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
First Busey
0 Sell rating(s)
3 Hold rating(s)
3 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.50
First Merchants
0 Sell rating(s)
0 Hold rating(s)
4 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
3.00

First Busey has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Merchants has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. First Merchants pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. First Busey pays out 89.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. First Merchants pays out 37.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Busey has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years and First Merchants has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Summary

First Merchants beats First Busey on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.

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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time

This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding FRME and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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Media Sentiment Over Time

This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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FRME vs. The Competition

MetricFirst MerchantsBANKS IndustryFinance SectorNASDAQ Exchange
Market Cap$2.16B$2.43B$12.17B$9.57B
Dividend Yield3.84%3.79%5.64%4.18%
P/E Ratio9.6010.3919.8625.14
Price / Sales1.992.2326.0697.17
Price / Cash9.4710.2021.4958.58
Price / Book0.921.112.115.59
Net Income$201.40M$174.52M$1.00B$265.48M
7 Day Performance-0.11%0.18%1.01%1.22%
1 Month Performance-9.16%-6.04%-0.11%0.39%
1 Year Performance2.57%7.98%543.15%23.47%

First Merchants Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
FRME
First Merchants
4.9727 of 5 stars
$37.07
-1.0%
$48.25
+30.2%
+4.6%$2.16B$1.07B9.602,120Positive News
BUSE
First Busey
4.958 of 5 stars
$23.03
-0.8%
$27.17
+18.0%
-10.1%$2.08B$663.36M20.561,548
EFSC
Enterprise Financial Services
4.8465 of 5 stars
$56.38
+0.8%
$64.33
+14.1%
+12.9%$2.07B$920.75M11.051,256Positive News
FFBC
First Financial Bancorp.
4.5515 of 5 stars
$25.21
+1.4%
$29.00
+15.0%
-1.9%$2.38B$1.62B10.082,090
OBK
Origin Bancorp
3.5536 of 5 stars
$38.07
+1.6%
$43.20
+13.5%
+17.1%$1.19B$358.20M15.481,010Positive News
PPBI
Pacific Premier Bancorp
4.125 of 5 stars
$22.34
-1.0%
$27.50
+23.1%
-10.4%$2.19B$905.41M15.731,325Positive News
Ex-Dividend
STBA
S&T Bancorp
4.4264 of 5 stars
$37.68
+0.0%
$42.00
+11.5%
-9.5%$1.44B$564.96M11.051,206Analyst Revision
TOWN
Towne Bank
4.1573 of 5 stars
$35.70
+0.3%
$40.67
+13.9%
+12.2%$2.67B$1.03B15.522,720
UBSI
United Bankshares
4.2184 of 5 stars
$36.81
+1.7%
$40.50
+10.0%
+0.0%$5.14B$1.63B13.012,553Positive News
Analyst Revision
WSBC
WesBanco
4.9764 of 5 stars
$32.19
+0.8%
$38.71
+20.3%
-1.2%$3.06B$953.62M21.042,195
WSFS
WSFS Financial
4.6019 of 5 stars
$57.00
+1.1%
$63.25
+11.0%
+7.3%$3.20B$1.40B12.502,309

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This page (NASDAQ:FRME) was last updated on 8/8/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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