First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Receives $46.40 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.40.

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Hovde Group upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Merchants

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in First Merchants by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 121,969 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,866,000 after purchasing an additional 9,679 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in First Merchants by 55.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $37,133,000 after purchasing an additional 332,168 shares during the period. Citadel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in First Merchants by 43.2% in the fourth quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 41,781 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 12,600 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in First Merchants by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in First Merchants by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 104,763 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,179,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822 shares during the period. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Merchants Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of First Merchants stock opened at $37.89 on Friday. First Merchants has a 1 year low of $30.55 and a 1 year high of $46.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.08 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.43.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.03. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The company had revenue of $160.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $171.23 million. Analysts forecast that First Merchants will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This is an increase from First Merchants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 40.45%.

First Merchants Company Profile

First Merchants Corporation operates as the financial holding company for First Merchants Bank that provides community banking services. The company offers a range of financial services, including time, savings, and demand deposits; and consumer, commercial, agri-business, public finance, and real estate mortgage loans.