Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Increases Stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 123.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,174 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 13,370 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $899,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in shares of First Merchants by 0.7% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 83,696 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,113,000 after buying an additional 566 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in First Merchants by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 43,275 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,610,000 after acquiring an additional 5,016 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of First Merchants by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 682,675 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,396,000 after purchasing an additional 93,319 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $153,000. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 82,318 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,062,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FRME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on First Merchants from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.60.

First Merchants Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of First Merchants stock opened at $43.37 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.36. The stock has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of 14.31 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. First Merchants Co. has a 12-month low of $30.55 and a 12-month high of $46.13.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $265.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.55 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that First Merchants Co. will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.20%.

First Merchants 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.