First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $37.36, but opened at $36.25. First Merchants shares last traded at $35.78, with a volume of 13,505 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FRME has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Stephens downgraded shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Merchants currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.20.

First Merchants Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

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

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.35%.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Waterfront Wealth Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 1.1% during the second quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 26,433 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $880,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 3.2% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,614 shares of the bank’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in First Merchants by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,074 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in First Merchants by 78.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,893 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in First Merchants during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

About First Merchants

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.