First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Shares Purchased by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 6.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 211,132 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,050 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $7,854,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,475,053 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $115,682,000 after buying an additional 180,323 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 2.9% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,694,006 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,683,000 after purchasing an additional 75,677 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 1.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,962,000 after purchasing an additional 11,521 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 457.3% in the second quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 581,863 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,370,000 after purchasing an additional 477,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in First Merchants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,218,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $43.48 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 1.01. First Merchants Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.20 and a fifty-two week high of $45.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 46.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FRME has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Stephens downgraded First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Hovde Group initiated coverage on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, First Merchants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.60.

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.