First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Given New $45.00 Price Target at Stephens

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) had its target price increased by Stephens from $40.00 to $45.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has an overweight rating on the bank’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com raised First Merchants from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of First Merchants from $41.00 to $42.50 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $42.50.

First Merchants Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME opened at $41.35 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $33.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. First Merchants has a 1-year low of $25.70 and a 1-year high of $42.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 1.04.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.03. First Merchants had a net margin of 17.77% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The business had revenue of $153.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $154.95 million. Equities analysts anticipate that First Merchants will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. This is an increase from First Merchants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. First Merchants’s payout ratio is presently 40.35%.

Insider Transactions at First Merchants

In related news, Director Patrick J. Fehring sold 23,936 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.51, for a total transaction of $778,159.36. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 122,706 shares in the company, valued at $3,989,172.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FRME. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in First Merchants by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,571,539 shares of the bank’s stock worth $243,673,000 after purchasing an additional 32,126 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in First Merchants by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,074,407 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $114,001,000 after buying an additional 211,113 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in First Merchants by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 978,469 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,282,000 after acquiring an additional 89,816 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in First Merchants by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 853,075 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,632,000 after acquiring an additional 11,842 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its position in First Merchants by 4,586.1% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 700,711 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,982,000 after acquiring an additional 685,758 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.