First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Brokerages

Posted by Geri Gentry on Oct 9th, 2026

Shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME – Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $46.00.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FRME shares. Weiss Ratings raised First Merchants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Raymond James Financial raised First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Stephens upgraded First Merchants to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on First Merchants from $51.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday.

Read Our Latest Report on First Merchants

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 23.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,727 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the period. Park National Corp OH acquired a new position in First Merchants in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $257,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its stake in First Merchants by 100.7% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 42,082 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,839,000 after purchasing an additional 21,110 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in First Merchants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $81,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the second quarter worth $917,000. 73.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Merchants Stock Up 0.8%

FRME stock opened at $39.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a PE ratio of 12.69 and a beta of 0.87. First Merchants has a 12 month low of $34.66 and a 12 month high of $45.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.25.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $202.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.78 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.86% and a net margin of 17.05%. Equities research analysts forecast that First Merchants will post 3.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.44%.

First Merchants Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ: FRME) is a financial services company headquartered in Muncie, Indiana. Through its principal subsidiary, First Merchants Bank, the company provides banking and related financial services to individuals, families, businesses, and institutions.

Its offerings include personal and business deposit accounts, consumer and commercial loans, residential mortgage lending, cash-management and treasury services, investment and trust services, and wealth-management solutions.