First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Short Interest Update

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) saw a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 573,600 shares, a growth of 20.8% from the December 15th total of 474,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 271,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $316,955.04. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 92,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,052,196.72. This represents a 7.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FRME. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 108.3% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in First Merchants during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in First Merchants in the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in First Merchants by 139.1% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 78.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,893 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Trading Up 0.8 %

First Merchants stock opened at $40.27 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.29 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. First Merchants has a 52 week low of $30.55 and a 52 week high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. Analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 46.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FRME has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, First Merchants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.60.

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.