First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. Raymond James Financial cut First Merchants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.00.

First Merchants Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $37.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.56. First Merchants has a 1 year low of $33.13 and a 1 year high of $46.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 1.05.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $170.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.13 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 21.35%.During the same period last year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 37.31%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Merchants

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Waterfront Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 1.0% in the second quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 27,412 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,050,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. EJF Capital LLC boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 2.6% in the second quarter. EJF Capital LLC now owns 11,884 shares of the bank’s stock worth $455,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 1.5% in the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 23,650 shares of the bank’s stock worth $879,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 0.9% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 41,288 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,670,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 0.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 54,058 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,070,000 after acquiring an additional 417 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.