First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Lifted to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on FRME. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of First Merchants from $41.00 to $42.50 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of FRME stock opened at $34.69 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $33.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.36. First Merchants has a 52-week low of $24.52 and a 52-week high of $38.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 1.08.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.92%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.19%.

Insider Activity at First Merchants

In other First Merchants news, insider Stephan Fluhler sold 3,193 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.17, for a total transaction of $105,911.81. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $798,401.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Merchants

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FRME. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in First Merchants by 4,586.1% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 700,711 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,982,000 after acquiring an additional 685,758 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the 4th quarter worth $14,400,000. rhino investment partners Inc bought a new stake in First Merchants during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,572,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in First Merchants by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,074,407 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $114,001,000 after purchasing an additional 211,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in First Merchants by 2,694.8% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 201,816 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,615,000 after purchasing an additional 194,595 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

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.