Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Cuts Stock Position in First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP trimmed its stake in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 2.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,439,858 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 76,704 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.06% of First Merchants worth $139,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 1st quarter worth about $46,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake in First Merchants by 314.5% during the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,318 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants during the first quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 809.9% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,838 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of First Merchants by 44.2% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,669 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $189,000 after acquiring an additional 1,432 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on FRME. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on First Merchants from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.25.

First Merchants Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $39.50 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.23 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.18. First Merchants Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.13 and a 1 year high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.04. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 21.35%.The company had revenue of $170.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.13 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.31%.

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.