Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. Boosts Position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 2.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 77,303 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the quarter. First Merchants accounts for approximately 2.9% of Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $2,876,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Waterfront Wealth Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 1.1% during the second quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 26,433 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $880,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 3.2% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,614 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 7.9% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 78.9% during the third 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. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the second quarter valued at about $34,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

First Merchants Trading Down 0.2 %

FRME traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $36.99. The company had a trading volume of 243,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 254,264. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.64. The company has a market cap of $2.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21 and a beta of 1.02. First Merchants Co. has a 12-month low of $27.56 and a 12-month high of $42.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.20%.

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.