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 report released on Sunday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on FRME. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of First Merchants from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.33.

First Merchants Stock Performance

FRME opened at $39.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $39.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.66. First Merchants has a 1 year low of $34.66 and a 1 year high of $43.22. The stock has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50 and a beta of 0.86.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.07. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The firm had revenue of $163.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $201.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that First Merchants will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at First Merchants

In other First Merchants news, VP Larry W. Myers sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total transaction of $207,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 109,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,543,876.50. This trade represents a 4.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the third quarter worth about $2,105,000. Vest Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the third quarter worth about $1,297,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 121.1% during the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 98,523 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,714,000 after purchasing an additional 53,953 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 8.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 947,498 shares of the bank’s stock worth $35,721,000 after purchasing an additional 73,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the third quarter worth about $754,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

About First Merchants

First Merchants Corporation, through its subsidiary First Merchants Bank, offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and public sector clients. The company’s core business activities include retail and commercial banking, lending, treasury and cash management, and wealth advisory services. With a focus on relationship banking, First Merchants seeks to deliver tailored solutions for deposit accounts, loan financing and other credit products.

On the consumer side, First Merchants provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, personal and mortgage loans, and electronic banking conveniences.