Aurora Investment Counsel Sells 426 Shares of First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Aurora Investment Counsel trimmed its position in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 1.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 32,701 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 426 shares during the quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $1,252,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FRME. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in First Merchants in the first quarter valued at approximately $24,523,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 842.5% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 334,593 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,531,000 after acquiring an additional 299,092 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 1,034.4% during the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 202,055 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,171,000 after buying an additional 184,243 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the first quarter worth $7,342,000. Finally, Mendon Capital Advisors Corp bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the first quarter worth $5,303,000. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on FRME. Zacks Research raised shares of First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of First Merchants from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.00.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME opened at $36.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a PE ratio of 9.52 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $39.27 and its 200-day moving average is $38.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. First Merchants Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.13 and a 52 week high of $46.13.

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 company had revenue of $170.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.13 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 21.35% and a return on equity of 9.88%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is presently 37.31%.

About First Merchants

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.