First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Plans $0.35 Quarterly Dividend

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 16th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of 0.35 per share by the bank on Friday, September 20th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th.

First Merchants has increased its dividend by an average of 8.8% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. First Merchants has a dividend payout ratio of 39.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect First Merchants to earn $3.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 39.2%.

First Merchants Stock Up 0.1 %

First Merchants stock traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $37.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 249,872. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.69. First Merchants has a 52-week low of $25.70 and a 52-week high of $42.44.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $267.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.35 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 17.77%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.02 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on FRME. Hovde Group began coverage on First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Stephens cut First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, First Merchants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.20.

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.