First Merchants (FRME) Scheduled to Post Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) will announce its earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, April 25th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.84 per share for the quarter. Investors that are interested in registering for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.87. The business had revenue of $156.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $158.50 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 22.39% and a return on equity of 10.97%. On average, analysts expect First Merchants to post $3 EPS for the current fiscal year and $3 EPS for the next fiscal year.

First Merchants Price Performance

First Merchants stock opened at $33.99 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.96. First Merchants has a 12-month low of $24.52 and a 12-month high of $38.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.09 and a beta of 1.08.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.00%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of First Merchants from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Stephan Fluhler sold 3,193 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.17, for a total value of $105,911.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 24,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $798,401.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.