First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) Shares Sold by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,462,181 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,676 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $48,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. rhino investment partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,572,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 84.1% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 31,082 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,024,000 after acquiring an additional 14,200 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of First Merchants by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 154,379 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,388,000 after acquiring an additional 26,772 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 184,862 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,452,000 after purchasing an additional 53,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in First Merchants in the 4th quarter worth about $877,000. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Hovde Group initiated coverage on First Merchants in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. 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 increased their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Stephens cut shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.20.

First Merchants Stock Performance

FRME opened at $36.93 on Tuesday. First Merchants Co. has a twelve month low of $25.70 and a twelve month high of $42.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of 10.64 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $37.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.87.

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

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.