William Blair Investment Management LLC Takes Position in First Merchants Corporation $FRME

William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 622,443 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $27,195,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in First Merchants by 361.7% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 771 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 325.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 796 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,042 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position 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 worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of First Merchants by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,424 shares of the bank’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. 73.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on FRME. Weiss Ratings raised First Merchants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on First Merchants from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Stock Performance

FRME opened at $42.03 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $42.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.97. First Merchants Corporation has a 1-year low of $34.66 and a 1-year high of $45.33. The company has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.47 and a beta of 0.84.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share 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 net margin of 17.05% and a return on equity of 8.86%. On average, analysts expect that First Merchants Corporation will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at First Merchants

In other First Merchants news, Director Larry W. Myers sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.50, for a total transaction of $415,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 99,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,139,666.50. The trade was a 9.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

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.