Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 1,158 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado cut its stake in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 695,766 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,158 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $23,162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,571,539 shares of the bank’s stock worth $243,673,000 after buying an additional 32,126 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in First Merchants by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,475,053 shares of the bank’s stock worth $115,682,000 after acquiring an additional 180,323 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 853,075 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $31,632,000 after acquiring an additional 11,842 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 669,702 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $24,833,000 after acquiring an additional 30,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Merchants Corp boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 457.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 581,863 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,370,000 after acquiring an additional 477,462 shares during the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Merchants Trading Down 3.7 %

FRME stock opened at $37.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. First Merchants Co. has a one year low of $25.70 and a one year high of $42.44. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $37.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.96.

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

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens cut shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. 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. Hovde Group began coverage on shares of First Merchants in a report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Finally, 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 report on Monday, July 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.20.

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.