First Merchants (FRME) Expected to Announce Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) is expected to be releasing its earnings data before the market opens on Thursday, January 30th. Analysts expect First Merchants to post earnings of $0.90 per share and revenue of $167.84 million for the quarter. Persons that are interested in registering for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

First Merchants Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:FRME opened at $41.37 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.26. First Merchants has a one year low of $30.55 and a one year high of $46.13. The firm has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.65 and a beta of 1.06.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. First Merchants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Merchants news, President Michael J. Stewart sold 7,248 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.73, for a total value of $316,955.04. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 92,664 shares in the company, valued at $4,052,196.72. The trade was a 7.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on FRME. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on First Merchants from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Merchants has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.60.

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.