First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) Receives $49.00 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRMEGet Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $49.00.

FRME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on First Merchants from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings raised First Merchants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on First Merchants

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Merchants

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in First Merchants during the second quarter valued at approximately $232,637,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,195,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 2nd quarter valued at $18,889,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in First Merchants in the 2nd quarter worth $18,156,000. Finally, FJ Capital Management LLC raised its position in First Merchants by 115.0% in the 4th quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC now owns 633,668 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,750,000 after purchasing an additional 338,950 shares during the period. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

First Merchants Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $40.87 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. First Merchants has a fifty-two week low of $34.66 and a fifty-two week high of $45.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.96. The company has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a PE ratio of 13.10 and a beta of 0.84.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRMEGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.28). First Merchants had a net margin of 17.05% and a return on equity of 8.86%. The firm had revenue of $202.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.78 million. Research analysts anticipate that First Merchants will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.44%.

First Merchants Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

First Merchants Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Muncie, Indiana, and the parent company of First Merchants Bank. The bank provides a broad range of financial products and services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions.

Its offerings include consumer and commercial deposit accounts, residential and commercial lending, business banking, treasury management, mortgage services, investment and wealth management, and trust services. First Merchants also provides specialized financing and advisory solutions for commercial customers and other organizations.

First Merchants serves customers through banking offices and digital channels across Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois.

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Analyst Recommendations for First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME)

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