FJ Capital Management LLC Purchases 338,950 Shares of First Merchants Corporation $FRME

FJ Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 115.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 633,668 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 338,950 shares during the period. First Merchants makes up approximately 2.7% of FJ Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. FJ Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.10% of First Merchants worth $23,750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FRME. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 19.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 118,650 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,798,000 after acquiring an additional 19,375 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in First Merchants by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 34,708 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,404,000 after acquiring an additional 1,522 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 6.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 132,785 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,370,000 after acquiring an additional 8,212 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 941.6% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 107,859 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,362,000 after acquiring an additional 97,504 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 42.6% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 43,260 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after acquiring an additional 12,922 shares during the period. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FRME. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 17th. Weiss Ratings lowered First Merchants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.33.

First Merchants Stock Performance

First Merchants stock opened at $42.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.38 and a beta of 0.85. First Merchants Corporation has a 52-week low of $34.66 and a 52-week high of $43.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

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

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is a boost from First Merchants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.53%.

First Merchants Profile

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.