Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Has $596,000 Stock Position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,936 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,669 shares during the period. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $596,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,336,937 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $252,780,000 after buying an additional 138,689 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in First Merchants by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 13,262 shares of the bank’s stock worth $529,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in First Merchants in the fourth quarter valued at $499,000. Sciencast Management LP bought a new position in shares of First Merchants in the 4th quarter valued at about $203,000. Finally, Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 4th quarter valued at about $811,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Merchants Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of FRME opened at $41.26 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. First Merchants Co. has a 12 month low of $30.55 and a 12 month high of $46.13. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $42.16 and its 200-day moving average is $40.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a PE ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 1.05.

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

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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