Piper Sandler Issues Pessimistic Forecast for First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Stock Price

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) had its price target cut by equities researchers at Piper Sandler from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the bank’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 15.96% from the stock’s current price.

FRME has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stephens upgraded shares of First Merchants to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.00.

First Merchants Stock Down 0.3%

First Merchants stock opened at $39.67 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. First Merchants has a fifty-two week low of $34.66 and a fifty-two week high of $45.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.21.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $202.49 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.78 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.86% and a net margin of 17.05%. Equities research analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $232,637,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in First Merchants by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,596,017 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $139,272,000 after purchasing an additional 277,977 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in First Merchants by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 861,995 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,385,000 after purchasing an additional 83,667 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in First Merchants by 1.4% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 725,259 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,089,000 after purchasing an additional 9,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in First Merchants during the second quarter worth $27,195,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Company Profile

First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ: FRME) is a financial services company headquartered in Muncie, Indiana. Through its principal subsidiary, First Merchants Bank, the company provides banking and related financial services to individuals, families, businesses, and institutions.

Its offerings include personal and business deposit accounts, consumer and commercial loans, residential mortgage lending, cash-management and treasury services, investment and trust services, and wealth-management solutions.