Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Raises Holdings in First Merchants Corporation $FRME

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 892.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 84,049 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 75,579 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $3,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in First Merchants by 27,081,812.5% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 15,165,871 shares of the bank’s stock worth $568,417,000 after acquiring an additional 15,165,815 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in First Merchants by 64.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,346,300 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,756,000 after purchasing an additional 527,545 shares in the last quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 115.0% in the 4th quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC now owns 633,668 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,750,000 after purchasing an additional 338,950 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in First Merchants by 252.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 321,550 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,122,000 after buying an additional 230,192 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its stake in First Merchants by 169.3% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 261,904 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,031,000 after buying an additional 164,664 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FRME shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of First Merchants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of FRME stock traded down $0.01 on Tuesday, reaching $43.41. The company had a trading volume of 40,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 391,317. First Merchants Corporation has a one year low of $34.66 and a one year high of $44.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a PE ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50-day moving average is $40.91 and its 200 day moving average is $39.81.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.07. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The company had revenue of $163.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $201.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that First Merchants Corporation will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.37 dividend. This is an increase from First Merchants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Larry W. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total transaction of $415,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 99,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,139,666.50. This trade represents a 9.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

First Merchants Company Profile

First Merchants Corporation, through its subsidiary First Merchants Bank, offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and public sector clients. The company’s core business activities include retail and commercial banking, lending, treasury and cash management, and wealth advisory services. With a focus on relationship banking, First Merchants seeks to deliver tailored solutions for deposit accounts, loan financing and other credit products.

On the consumer side, First Merchants provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, personal and mortgage loans, and electronic banking conveniences.