Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Raises Stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 13,267 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 3,415 shares during the period. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FRME. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in First Merchants in the second quarter worth $45,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of First Merchants by 511.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the bank’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,606 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 78.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,893 shares of the bank’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in First Merchants in the 2nd quarter worth about $79,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FRME has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stephens cut shares of First Merchants from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Hovde Group began coverage on First Merchants in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.60.

First Merchants Stock Down 1.5 %

FRME stock opened at $44.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The business’s 50-day moving average is $39.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.67. First Merchants Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.20 and a fifty-two week high of $46.13.

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

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.20%.

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.