First Merchants Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.35 (NASDAQ:FRME)

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 12th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.35 per share by the bank on Friday, December 20th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th.

First Merchants has raised its dividend by an average of 8.8% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. First Merchants has a payout ratio of 39.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect First Merchants to earn $3.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 39.8%.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of FRME stock opened at $42.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of 14.18 and a beta of 1.05. First Merchants has a 12 month low of $30.55 and a 12 month high of $46.13. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on FRME shares. Hovde Group began coverage on First Merchants in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler decreased their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of First Merchants in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Stephens cut shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.60.

First Merchants Company 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.