Great Lakes Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 16.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 112,125 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 21,479 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned about 0.19% of First Merchants worth $4,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FRME. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its position in First Merchants by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 749,055 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,880,000 after purchasing an additional 66,380 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in First Merchants by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 626,508 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $24,991,000 after purchasing an additional 43,066 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in First Merchants in the first quarter valued at approximately $24,523,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 1.0% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 472,974 shares of the bank’s stock worth $19,127,000 after acquiring an additional 4,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 49.3% during the first quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 340,800 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,782,000 after acquiring an additional 112,500 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on FRME. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, First Merchants has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.25.

First Merchants Price Performance

FRME opened at $40.22 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.83. First Merchants Corporation has a 52-week low of $33.13 and a 52-week high of $46.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 1.10.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.04. First Merchants had a net margin of 21.35% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The firm had revenue of $170.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $172.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is 37.31%.

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.