Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Has $1.73 Million Stock Position in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 43,270 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,109 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $1,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 108.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of First Merchants by 139.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of First Merchants by 270.1% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,728 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 1,991 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its position in First Merchants by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,052 shares of the bank’s stock worth $122,000 after buying an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in First Merchants during the 3rd quarter worth $153,000. 73.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FRME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James cut their target price on First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Hovde Group upgraded shares of First Merchants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

First Merchants Stock Down 0.2 %

FRME stock opened at $40.11 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.74. First Merchants Co. has a 12 month low of $30.55 and a 12 month high of $46.13. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.73 and a beta of 1.05.

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

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.94%.

About First Merchants

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.