First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Holdings Increased by Denali Advisors LLC

Denali Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 39.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 204,177 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 57,800 shares during the quarter. First Merchants makes up 1.9% of Denali Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Denali Advisors LLC’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $6,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FRME. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its position in shares of First Merchants by 4,586.1% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 700,711 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,982,000 after buying an additional 685,758 shares in the last quarter. First Merchants Corp grew its position in shares of First Merchants by 457.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 581,863 shares of the bank’s stock worth $19,370,000 after buying an additional 477,462 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 4th quarter worth $14,400,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 2nd quarter worth $8,218,000. Finally, rhino investment partners Inc bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 4th quarter worth $8,572,000. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FRME shares. Piper Sandler increased their price target on First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Hovde Group started coverage on First Merchants in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Stephens downgraded First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.20.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $36.93 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of 10.64 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.87. First Merchants Co. has a fifty-two week low of $25.70 and a fifty-two week high of $42.44.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $267.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.35 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 17.77%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.02 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.35%.

First Merchants 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.