XTX Topco Ltd Purchases New Position in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME)

XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 22,764 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $921,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FRME. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 314.5% during the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,318 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 1st quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 809.9% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,838 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FRME has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.20.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of FRME opened at $37.11 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $38.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.41. First Merchants Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.13 and a 52 week high of $46.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.61 and a beta of 1.08.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $170.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $172.13 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.91% and a net margin of 21.35%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were given a $0.36 dividend. This is a boost from First Merchants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 37.31%.

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.