First Merchants Corporation $FRME Shares Sold by Peregrine Capital Management LLC

Peregrine Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) by 8.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 121,255 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 11,669 shares during the period. Peregrine Capital Management LLC’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $4,696,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL increased its stake in First Merchants by 121.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 98,523 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,714,000 after purchasing an additional 53,953 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in First Merchants by 8.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 947,498 shares of the bank’s stock worth $35,721,000 after purchasing an additional 73,725 shares in the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its position in First Merchants by 137.4% during the third quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 37,124 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,400,000 after purchasing an additional 21,486 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in First Merchants by 64.4% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,346,300 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,756,000 after purchasing an additional 527,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in First Merchants in the fourth quarter valued at $1,874,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FRME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of First Merchants from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Merchants news, Director Larry W. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total value of $415,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 99,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,139,666.50. This represents a 9.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Price Performance

FRME stock opened at $44.29 on Thursday. First Merchants Corporation has a 1 year low of $34.66 and a 1 year high of $44.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $40.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.72. The firm has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03 and a beta of 0.84.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $163.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $201.91 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.58% and a net margin of 18.87%.During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Merchants Corporation will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from First Merchants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.53%.

First Merchants Company Profile

First Merchants Corporation, through its subsidiary First Merchants Bank, offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and public sector clients. The company’s core business activities include retail and commercial banking, lending, treasury and cash management, and wealth advisory services. With a focus on relationship banking, First Merchants seeks to deliver tailored solutions for deposit accounts, loan financing and other credit products.

On the consumer side, First Merchants provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, personal and mortgage loans, and electronic banking conveniences.