Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 228,300 First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 228,300 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $9,107,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in First Merchants by 13.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 43,275 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,610,000 after purchasing an additional 5,016 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in First Merchants by 0.7% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 83,696 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,113,000 after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 89.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,290 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,176,000 after buying an additional 53,033 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in First Merchants by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400,821 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,120,000 after purchasing an additional 11,430 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in First Merchants by 1.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,962,000 after buying an additional 11,521 shares during the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on FRME shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Hovde Group upgraded First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Merchants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.20.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of FRME opened at $35.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of 10.37 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $40.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.55. First Merchants Co. has a 1-year low of $30.55 and a 1-year high of $46.13.

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

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.94%.

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.