First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler cut their price target on First Merchants from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings downgraded First Merchants from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on First Merchants from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded First Merchants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.60.

First Merchants Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME opened at $36.59 on Tuesday. First Merchants has a 52-week low of $33.13 and a 52-week high of $46.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.15 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $38.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.36. 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 (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $172.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.78 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.91% and a net margin of 22.04%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that First Merchants will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Merchants

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 135,789 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,227,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants in the 1st quarter worth $768,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants in the 1st quarter worth $7,342,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 34,339 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,389,000 after buying an additional 2,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants in the 2nd quarter worth $261,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.