JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $26.07 Million Stake in First Merchants Corporation $FRME

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 691,565 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,400 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $26,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FRME. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in First Merchants by 361.7% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 771 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Caldwell Trust Co bought a new stake in First Merchants in the second quarter valued at $50,000. GGM Financials LLC bought a new stake in First Merchants in the third quarter valued at $64,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants during the third quarter valued at about $92,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 9.9% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,100 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other First Merchants news, VP Larry W. Myers sold 5,000 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total transaction of $207,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 109,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,543,876.50. The trade was a 4.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eva D. Scurlock sold 3,227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.29, for a total value of $136,469.83. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 20,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $848,464.27. This represents a 13.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on FRME. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded First Merchants from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on First Merchants from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.75.

First Merchants Stock Performance

Shares of FRME stock opened at $37.87 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.25. First Merchants Corporation has a 12 month low of $33.13 and a 12 month high of $43.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a PE ratio of 9.74 and a beta of 0.93.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $178.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.89 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 21.49% and a return on equity of 9.58%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were given a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.02%.

First Merchants Profile

First Merchants Corporation, through its subsidiary First Merchants Bank, offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and public sector clients. The company’s core business activities include retail and commercial banking, lending, treasury and cash management, and wealth advisory services. With a focus on relationship banking, First Merchants seeks to deliver tailored solutions for deposit accounts, loan financing and other credit products.

On the consumer side, First Merchants provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, personal and mortgage loans, and electronic banking conveniences.