Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. Has $832,000 Position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 50.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,989 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 25,000 shares during the period. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $832,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FRME. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 4,586.1% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 700,711 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,982,000 after purchasing an additional 685,758 shares during the last quarter. First Merchants Corp grew its holdings in First Merchants by 457.3% during the second quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 581,863 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,370,000 after purchasing an additional 477,462 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in First Merchants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,400,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in First Merchants in the second quarter valued at approximately $8,218,000. Finally, rhino investment partners Inc acquired a new stake in First Merchants in the fourth quarter worth $8,572,000. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FRME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of First Merchants in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Hovde Group assumed coverage on First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stephens lowered First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, First Merchants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.20.

First Merchants Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME opened at $36.54 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $37.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.02. First Merchants Co. has a one year low of $25.70 and a one year high of $42.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 1.02.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $267.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.35 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 17.77% and a return on equity of 9.17%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.02 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.83%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is 40.35%.

First Merchants 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.