First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Piper Sandler

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by Piper Sandler in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $55.00 price objective on the bank’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $52.00. Piper Sandler’s target price suggests a potential upside of 22.09% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on FRME. Hovde Group upgraded First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.25.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME traded up $2.34 during trading on Friday, reaching $45.05. The stock had a trading volume of 52,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 209,899. First Merchants has a 52 week low of $30.55 and a 52 week high of $46.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.64 billion, a PE ratio of 14.83 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $41.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.28.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. As a group, equities analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Merchants news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total value of $316,955.04. Following the sale, the president now owns 92,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,052,196.72. The trade was a 7.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Merchants

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 138,446 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,609,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 25.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 84,291 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 16,899 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the 2nd quarter valued at about $330,000. Finally, Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 12.0% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 12,635 shares of the bank’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

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.