First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) Short Interest Down 20.2% in December

First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 911,365 shares, a decline of 20.2% from the December 15th total of 1,142,561 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 280,994 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Based on an average trading volume of 280,994 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FRME. Waterfront Wealth Inc. boosted its position in First Merchants by 1.0% during the second quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 27,412 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,050,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,100 shares of the bank’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. EJF Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. EJF Capital LLC now owns 11,884 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 62.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 987 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 0.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 54,058 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,070,000 after buying an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on FRME. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on First Merchants from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of First Merchants from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, First Merchants currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.60.

First Merchants Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $38.08 on Friday. First Merchants has a twelve month low of $33.13 and a twelve month high of $45.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.44. The company has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.52 and a beta of 0.93.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $172.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.78 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 22.04% and a return on equity of 9.82%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 36.00%.

First Merchants Company Profile

First Merchants Corporation, through its subsidiary First Merchants Bank, offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and public sector clients. The company’s core business activities include retail and commercial banking, lending, treasury and cash management, and wealth advisory services. With a focus on relationship banking, First Merchants seeks to deliver tailored solutions for deposit accounts, loan financing and other credit products.

On the consumer side, First Merchants provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, personal and mortgage loans, and electronic banking conveniences.