First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Shares Sold by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 1.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 41,256 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 764 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $1,535,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in First Merchants during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the second quarter valued at $45,000. CWM LLC increased its position in First Merchants by 511.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the bank’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 1,606 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in First Merchants by 78.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,893 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in First Merchants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $79,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on FRME. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Hovde Group started coverage on First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of First Merchants in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.60.

First Merchants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FRME opened at $43.48 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89. First Merchants Co. has a 1-year low of $30.20 and a 1-year high of $45.08. The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50-day moving average of $38.04 and a 200-day moving average of $36.25.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06). First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. The company had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.55 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.20%.

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.