Summit Global Investments Purchases Shares of 20,332 First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Summit Global Investments acquired a new position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 20,332 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $811,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FRME. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the third quarter worth $374,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 7.9% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 40,838 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,519,000 after acquiring an additional 2,981 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 4.2% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 24,867 shares of the bank’s stock worth $925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the third quarter worth $396,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 0.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 722,148 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,864,000 after acquiring an additional 5,367 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Stock Down 1.5 %

FRME stock opened at $40.24 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.11 and its 200 day moving average is $40.53. First Merchants Co. has a one year low of $30.55 and a one year high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. On average, research analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 40.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FRME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Hovde Group upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

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.