Rehmann Capital Advisory Group Reduces Stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Rehmann Capital Advisory Group trimmed its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 5.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,708 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 702 shares during the quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $436,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FRME. Comerica Bank boosted its stake in First Merchants by 1,313.6% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 7,266 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $254,000 after acquiring an additional 6,752 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 511.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 1,606 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 60.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,552 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 3,981 shares in the last quarter. Security Financial Services INC. purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $230,000. Finally, First Merchants Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $19,370,000 after buying an additional 477,462 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Merchants Stock Performance

First Merchants stock opened at $43.37 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of 14.31 and a beta of 1.05. First Merchants Co. has a 1-year low of $30.55 and a 1-year high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.60.

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.