Denali Advisors LLC Acquires 14,005 Shares of First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Denali Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 174,384 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 14,005 shares during the quarter. Denali Advisors LLC’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $6,679,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in First Merchants during the first quarter valued at approximately $24,523,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in First Merchants by 1.0% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 472,974 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,127,000 after buying an additional 4,813 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its position in First Merchants by 49.3% during the first quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 340,800 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,782,000 after buying an additional 112,500 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in First Merchants by 842.5% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 334,593 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,531,000 after buying an additional 299,092 shares during the period. Finally, OneAscent Financial Services LLC grew its position in First Merchants by 100.4% during the first quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 247,024 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,984,000 after buying an additional 123,738 shares during the period. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Merchants Price Performance

FRME stock opened at $36.92 on Wednesday. First Merchants Corporation has a one year low of $33.13 and a one year high of $46.13. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.24 and its 200-day moving average price 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. The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a PE ratio of 9.56 and a beta of 1.05.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.04. First Merchants had a net margin of 21.35% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The firm had revenue of $170.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.13 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FRME has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of First Merchants from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of First Merchants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Merchants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.00.

First Merchants 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.