68,021 Shares in First Merchants Corporation $FRME Bought by Ieq Capital LLC

Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 68,021 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,972,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Waterfront Wealth Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 28,184 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,092,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 24.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,403 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,424 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in First Merchants by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 25,264 shares of the bank’s stock worth $962,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in First Merchants by 0.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 54,058 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,070,000 after buying an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on FRME shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of First Merchants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of First Merchants from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Stock Down 0.3%

First Merchants stock opened at $41.92 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. First Merchants Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $34.66 and a fifty-two week high of $45.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.98. The firm has a market cap of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44 and a beta of 0.84.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $202.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.78 million. First Merchants had a return on equity of 8.86% and a net margin of 17.05%. As a group, analysts forecast that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.44%.

Insider Transactions at First Merchants

In other First Merchants news, Director Larry W. Myers sold 10,000 shares of First Merchants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,139,666.50. The trade was a 9.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

First Merchants 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.