Waterfront Wealth Inc. Boosts Position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Waterfront Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,908 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 234 shares during the period. Waterfront Wealth Inc.’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $1,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 108.3% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 139.1% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 78.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,893 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 835 shares during the period. KBC Group NV bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants during the third quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 270.1% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,728 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,991 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Hovde Group upgraded First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target (up from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First Merchants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Trading Down 1.1 %

First Merchants stock opened at $44.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.84. First Merchants Co. has a 12 month low of $30.55 and a 12 month high of $46.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 1.07.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 18.76%. As a group, equities analysts predict that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 40.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total transaction of $316,955.04. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 92,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,052,196.72. This represents a 7.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.32% 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.