First Merchants (FRME) to Release Earnings on Thursday

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) will be posting its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, April 25th. Analysts expect First Merchants to post earnings of $0.84 per share for the quarter. Individual that wish to listen to the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.87. First Merchants had a return on equity of 10.97% and a net margin of 22.39%. The firm had revenue of $156.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $158.50 million. On average, analysts expect First Merchants to post $3 EPS for the current fiscal year and $3 EPS for the next fiscal year.

First Merchants Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $34.72 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.28 and a beta of 1.08. First Merchants has a 12-month low of $24.52 and a 12-month high of $38.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.01.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is presently 36.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Stephan Fluhler sold 3,193 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.17, for a total transaction of $105,911.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $798,401.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FRME has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James raised their price objective on First Merchants from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

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.