Nordea Investment Management AB Buys 462 Shares of First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 0.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 135,789 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $5,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 23,650 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $879,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 0.9% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 41,288 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,670,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 11.2% during the first quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 7,335 shares of the bank’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 739 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 98.4% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in First Merchants by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 24,573 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $994,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on FRME. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.00.

First Merchants Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $36.92 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.24 and a 200-day moving average of $38.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.56 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. First Merchants Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.13 and a twelve month high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $170.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.13 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 21.35% and a return on equity of 9.88%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 37.31%.

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.