Goelzer Investment Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 6,765 First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Goelzer Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 6,765 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400,821 shares of the bank’s stock worth $52,120,000 after acquiring an additional 11,430 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 1.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,962,000 after buying an additional 11,521 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 0.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 722,148 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,864,000 after buying an additional 5,367 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 682,675 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,396,000 after acquiring an additional 93,319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 93.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 424,130 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,778,000 after acquiring an additional 204,736 shares during the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on FRME shares. Piper Sandler reduced 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 report on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.60.

First Merchants Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of FRME opened at $40.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.48 and a 200 day moving average of $39.14. First Merchants Co. has a 1-year low of $30.55 and a 1-year high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.20%.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $316,955.04. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 92,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,052,196.72. This trade represents a 7.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

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.