Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Positive Forecast for First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) Stock Price

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) had its target price upped by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $43.00 to $50.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the bank’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price points to a potential upside of 16.20% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on FRME. Hovde Group started coverage on First Merchants in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Stephens downgraded shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Merchants has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.60.

First Merchants Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ FRME traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $43.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 60,108 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,098. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20 and a beta of 1.05. First Merchants has a 1 year low of $30.55 and a 1 year high of $46.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $265.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in First Merchants by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,475,053 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $115,682,000 after buying an additional 180,323 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in First Merchants by 2.9% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,694,006 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,683,000 after buying an additional 75,677 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400,821 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,120,000 after buying an additional 11,430 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 1.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,962,000 after purchasing an additional 11,521 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in First Merchants by 0.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 722,148 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,864,000 after purchasing an additional 5,367 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.