First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.35

First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 12th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.35 per share by the bank on Friday, December 20th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th.

First Merchants has increased its dividend by an average of 8.8% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. First Merchants has a payout ratio of 39.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect First Merchants to earn $3.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 39.8%.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME traded down $0.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $43.45. 206,541 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 259,781. The firm has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 1.01. First Merchants has a fifty-two week low of $30.20 and a fifty-two week high of $45.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.11.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FRME. Piper Sandler cut their target price on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Hovde Group began coverage on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of First Merchants in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.60.

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.