NASDAQ:FRME First Merchants (FRME) Stock Price, News & Analysis $40.87 -0.03 (-0.07%) Closing price 09/18/2026 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$40.86 0.00 (-0.01%) As of 09/18/2026 07:30 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Massive. Learn more. Add Compare Share Share Stock Analysis Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsDividendEarningsFinancialsInsider TradesNews and TrendsOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort Interest About First Merchants Stock (NASDAQ:FRME) View Price History Chart DataSkip Price History Chart 1 Day 5 Days 30 Days 90 Days 1 Year Advanced 1 Day 1 Day 5 Days 30 Days 90 Days 1 Year Advanced Show volume Show extended hours Get First Merchants alerts:Sign Up Key Stats Today's Range$40.37▼$40.9450-Day Range$40.72▼$45.2352-Week Range$34.66▼$45.33Volume1.55 million shsAverage Volume362,759 shsMarket Capitalization$2.57 billionP/E Ratio13.10Dividend Yield3.62%Price Target$49.00Consensus RatingModerate Buy Company Overview First Merchants Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Muncie, Indiana, and the parent company of First Merchants Bank. The bank provides a broad range of financial products and services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions. Its offerings include consumer and commercial deposit accounts, residential and commercial lending, business banking, treasury management, mortgage services, investment and wealth management, and trust services. First Merchants also provides specialized financing and advisory solutions for commercial customers and other organizations. First Merchants serves customers through banking offices and digital channels across Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. The company traces its banking history to 1893 and has expanded its regional presence through organic growth and acquisitions.AI Generated. May Contain Errors. Read More First Merchants Stock Analysis - MarketRank™See Top-Rated MarketRank™ Stocks89th Percentile Overall ScoreFRME MarketRank™: First Merchants scored higher than 89% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 167th out of 835 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation. Analyst's Opinion3.2 / 5Analyst RatingModerate Buy Consensus RatingFirst Merchants has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.50, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 3 buy ratings, 3 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.Upside PotentialFirst Merchants has a consensus price target of $49.00, representing about 19.9% upside from its current price of $40.87.Amount of Analyst CoverageFirst Merchants has only been the subject of 2 research reports in the past 90 days.Read more about First Merchants' stock forecast and price target. Earnings and Valuation3.1 / 5Proj. Earnings Growth12.94% Earnings GrowthEarnings for First Merchants are expected to grow by 12.94% in the coming year, from $3.94 to $4.45 per share.Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the MarketThe P/E ratio of First Merchants is 13.10, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 44.67.Price to Earnings Ratio vs. SectorThe P/E ratio of First Merchants is 13.10, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 25.31.Price to Book Value per Share RatioFirst Merchants has a P/B Ratio of 0.97. P/B Ratios below 1 indicate that a company could be undervalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.Read more about First Merchants' valuation and earnings. Short Interest2.0 / 5Short Interest LevelBearish Percentage of Shares Shorted3.01% of the float of First Merchants has been sold short.Short Interest Ratio / Days to CoverFirst Merchants has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 5.95.Change versus previous monthShort interest in First Merchants has recently increased by 1.45%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing. Dividend5.0 / 5Dividend StrengthStrong Dividend LeadershipFirst Merchants is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 3.62%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.Dividend GrowthFirst Merchants has been increasing its dividend for 13 years.Dividend CoverageThe dividend payout ratio of First Merchants is 47.44%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.Dividend SustainabilityBased on earnings estimates, First Merchants will have a dividend payout ratio of 33.26% next year. This indicates that First Merchants will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.Read more about First Merchants' dividend. News and Social Media1.5 / 5News Sentiment0.34 News SentimentFirst Merchants has a news sentiment score of 0.34. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.72 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.News Coverage This WeekMarketBeat has tracked 3 news articles for First Merchants this week, compared to 4 articles on an average week. Company Ownership0.8 / 5Insider TradingN/A Insider Buying vs. Insider SellingIn the past three months, First Merchants insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.Percentage Held by Insiders1.77% of the stock of First Merchants is held by insiders.Percentage Held by Institutions73.92% of the stock of First Merchants is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.Read more about First Merchants' insider trading history. Receive FRME Stock News and Ratings via Email Sign-up to receive the latest news and ratings for First Merchants and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter. Submit View SMS TermsSMS is currently available in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. By entering your phone number and clicking the sign-up button, you agree to receive periodic text messages from MarketBeat at the phone number you submitted, including texts that may be sent using an automatic telephone dialing system. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency will vary. Messages will consist of stock alerts, news stories, and partner advertisements/offers. Consent is not a condition of the purchase of any goods or services. Text HELP for help/customer support. Unsubscribe at any time by replying "STOP" to any text message that you receive from MarketBeat or by visiting our mailing preferences page. Read our full terms of service and privacy policy. FRME Stock News HeadlinesKBRA Assigns Ratings to First Merchants CorporationSeptember 17 at 4:51 PM | businesswire.comFirst Merchants: I Expect To Continue Underperforming (Rating Downgrade)September 17 at 7:50 AM | seekingalpha.comBank of America: 'Digital Dollar Inevitable'Bank of America just revealed your expiration date. In their Bloomberg interview, they didn't just predict the digital dollar. They gave us the timeline… 2025 to 2030. We're in that window right now. Once the digital dollar launches, every transaction you make will be tracked. Your spending could be controlled. Your accounts could be frozen. Over 4,500 investors have already used this legal backdoor to hold assets CBDCs can't freeze and generate yields the Federal Reserve can't touch.September 20 at 1:00 AM | Decentralized Masters (Ad)Top Executive Makes a Notable Move in First Merchants StockAugust 21, 2026 | tipranks.comFirst Merchants: A Mid-Cap Midwest Bank With Earnings Stuck In NeutralAugust 20, 2026 | seekingalpha.comFirst Merchants Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend to ShareholdersAugust 14, 2026 | tipranks.comFirst Merchants Corporation Announces Cash DividendAugust 14, 2026 | globenewswire.com2 momentum stocks with competitive advantages and 1 facing headwindsAugust 14, 2026 | msn.comSee More Headlines FRME Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions How have FRME shares performed this year? First Merchants' stock was trading at $37.48 at the start of the year. Since then, FRME stock has increased by 9.0% and is now trading at $40.87. How were First Merchants' earnings last quarter? First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July, 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.28. The bank earned $202.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.78 million. First Merchants had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 8.86% and a net margin of 17.05%. Read the conference call transcript. Who are First Merchants' major shareholders? First Merchants' top institutional investors include BlackRock Inc. (8.48%), Wellington Management Group LLP (1.11%), William Blair Investment Management LLC (0.99%) and The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (0.69%). Insiders that own company stock include Patrick J Fehring, Larry W Myers, Michael J Stewart, Michael C Rechin, Howard Halderman, Stephan Fluhler and Eva D Scurlock. View institutional ownership trends. How do I buy shares of First Merchants? Shares of FRME stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services. What other stocks do shareholders of First Merchants own? Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that First Merchants investors own include Tesla (TSLA), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Netflix (NFLX) and Visa (V). Company Calendar Last Earnings7/22/2026Record date for 9/18 Dividend9/04/2026Ex-Dividend for 9/18 Dividend9/04/2026Dividend Payable9/18/2026Today9/20/2026Next Earnings (Estimated)10/28/2026Fiscal Year End12/31/2026Get Stock Alerts Health Indicator TradeSmith's Health IndicatorA long-term volatility-based measure designed for securities held 12 months or longer.Green: Strong and healthy uptrend with normal pullbacks.Yellow: Significant pullback but still within expected volatility.Red: Dropped beyond expected volatility; considered unhealthy. Green Zone (6m+) 1-Year History Sep 25 Dec 25 Mar 26 Jun 26 Sep 26 FRME's financial health is in the Green zone, according to TradeSmith. FRME has been in this zone for over 6 months. Industry, Sector and Symbol Stock ExchangeNASDAQ SectorFinance Industry Banks Sub-IndustryRegional Banks Current SymbolNASDAQ:FRME CIK712534 Webwww.firstmerchants.com Phone(765) 747-1500Fax765-282-6304Employees2,086Year Founded1982Price Target and Rating Average Price Target for First Merchants$49.00 High Price Target$51.00 Low Price Target$46.00 Potential Upside/Downside+19.9%Consensus RatingModerate Buy Rating Score (0-4)2.50 Research Coverage6 Analysts Profitability EPS (Trailing Twelve Months)$3.12 Trailing P/E Ratio13.10 Forward P/E Ratio10.37 P/E GrowthN/ANet Income$226 million Net Margins17.05% Pretax Margin18.85% Return on Equity8.86% Return on Assets1.12% Debt Debt-to-Equity Ratio0.56 Current Ratio0.95 Quick Ratio0.95 Sales & Book Value Annual Sales$1.05 billion Price / Sales2.44 Cash Flow$4.43 per share Price / Cash Flow9.23 Book Value$42.22 per share Price / Book0.97Miscellaneous Outstanding Shares62,800,000Free Float61,689,000Market Cap$2.57 billion OptionableOptionable Beta0.84 Social Links Don't Wait for the OpenAI IPOThe AI wave will soon hit public markets with Anthropic and OpenAI set to go public later this year. 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