Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $884,000 Stock Holdings in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lowered its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 6.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,751 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,660 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $884,000 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 bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in First Merchants during the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 511.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 1,606 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the second quarter worth $79,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Merchants in the 1st quarter valued at $193,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FRME. Stephens cut First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Hovde Group started coverage on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.20.

First Merchants Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FRME opened at $39.65 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. First Merchants Co. has a 12-month low of $25.70 and a 12-month high of $42.44. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.07 and a 200-day moving average of $35.37.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 17.77% and a return on equity of 9.17%. The firm had revenue of $267.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.35 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Merchants Co. will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.