First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Announces Earnings Results

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $42.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a PE ratio of 14.10 and a beta of 1.06. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $41.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.28. First Merchants has a twelve month low of $30.55 and a twelve month high of $46.13.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.20%.

Insider Activity at First Merchants

In other news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $316,955.04. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 92,664 shares in the company, valued at $4,052,196.72. This trade represents a 7.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Merchants has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.