First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Shares Sold by Norris Perne & French LLP MI

Norris Perne & French LLP MI lessened its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 9.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,834 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 710 shares during the quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $254,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 10.6% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,072 shares of the bank’s stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new stake in First Merchants during the 3rd quarter worth $203,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in First Merchants by 78.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,893 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC purchased a new position in First Merchants in the third quarter valued at about $208,000. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 25.8% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 15,897 shares of the bank’s stock worth $591,000 after buying an additional 3,262 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of FRME stock opened at $37.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.23 and a beta of 1.02. First Merchants Co. has a one year low of $26.85 and a one year high of $42.44. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.61.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that First Merchants Co. will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 46.20%.

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.