First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Announces Earnings Results

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 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 $0.94 earnings per share.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $35.75. 264,108 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 250,839. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.49. First Merchants has a 12 month low of $25.74 and a 12 month high of $42.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of 10.30 and a beta of 1.02.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is 40.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.