First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.10 EPS

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.10, Zacks reports. First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%.

First Merchants Stock Up 3.6 %

First Merchants stock traded up $1.49 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $42.75. The stock had a trading volume of 29,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 203,172. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. First Merchants has a fifty-two week low of $30.55 and a fifty-two week high of $46.13. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a PE ratio of 14.10 and a beta of 1.06.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.20%.

Insider Activity at First Merchants

In other First Merchants news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total value of $316,955.04. Following the sale, the president now owns 92,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,052,196.72. The trade was a 7.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FRME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, First Merchants presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.25.

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.