First Merchants Corporation $FRME Shares Sold by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 2.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 40,459 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 829 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $1,550,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 1.5% during the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 23,650 shares of the bank’s stock worth $879,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in First Merchants by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 135,789 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,227,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in First Merchants by 98.4% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the bank’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in First Merchants by 4.3% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 24,573 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $994,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in First Merchants in the first quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FRME has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of First Merchants from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research raised shares of First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of First Merchants in a report on Monday, September 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.60.

First Merchants Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of First Merchants stock opened at $35.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.94 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. First Merchants Corporation has a one year low of $33.13 and a one year high of $46.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $38.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.35.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $172.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.78 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 22.04% and a return on equity of 9.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders 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 yield of 4.0%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is presently 36.00%.

First Merchants Company Profile

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.