Harbour Investments Inc. Invests $232,000 in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Harbour Investments Inc. purchased a new position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 5,813 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FRME. KBC Group NV bought a new position in shares of First Merchants in the 3rd quarter worth $89,000. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of First Merchants in the 3rd quarter worth $374,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 40,838 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,519,000 after buying an additional 2,981 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 24,867 shares of the bank’s stock worth $925,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of First Merchants during the 3rd quarter valued at $396,000. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of FRME opened at $40.24 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.49. First Merchants Co. has a twelve month low of $30.55 and a twelve month high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. On average, research analysts anticipate that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. First Merchants’s payout ratio is currently 40.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.