Stephens Lowers First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) to Equal Weight

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) was downgraded by analysts at Stephens from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $38.00 price target on the bank’s stock, down from their previous price target of $45.00. Stephens’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 5.82% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up previously from $43.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of First Merchants from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.25.

First Merchants Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of FRME opened at $35.91 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business has a fifty day moving average of $34.60 and a 200 day moving average of $34.30. The company has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a PE ratio of 10.35 and a beta of 1.04. First Merchants has a 52-week low of $25.70 and a 52-week high of $42.44.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $267.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.35 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 17.77%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Merchants will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Patrick J. Fehring sold 23,936 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.51, for a total value of $778,159.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 122,706 shares in the company, valued at $3,989,172.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,571,539 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $243,673,000 after purchasing an additional 32,126 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in First Merchants by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,074,407 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $114,001,000 after acquiring an additional 211,113 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in First Merchants by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 978,469 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,282,000 after acquiring an additional 89,816 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased 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 during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised 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 acquiring an additional 685,758 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

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.