First Merchants Price Target Decreased by Piper Sandler

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME – Free Report) has seen a reduction in its price target from $50.00 to $47.00. This update was provided by Piper Sandler in a research note released to investors on Monday, as reported by Benzinga. Despite the decrease in the price target, Piper Sandler maintains an overweight rating on the bank’s stock.

In addition to Piper Sandler, other analysts have also recently evaluated First Merchants. For instance, Hovde Group initiated coverage on First Merchants’ shares in a report dated August 12th, giving the company a “market perform” rating along with a price target of $38.00. Similarly, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods confirmed an “outperform” rating on August 28th, setting a price target of $45.00. Likewise, on August 7th, Stephens downgraded First Merchants, changing its rating from “overweight” to “equal weight” and reducing the price target from $45.00 to $38.00. Overall, three research analysts have rated the stock as a hold, while three others have recommended it as a buy. MarketBeat data indicates that First Merchants holds an average rating of “Moderate Buy” with a consensus target price of $41.60.

First Merchants Stock Performance

On Monday, First Merchants stock opened at $37.73. Currently, the company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Over the past year, the stock has reached a low of $26.85 and a high of $42.44. It also has a fifty-day simple moving average of $37.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.59. The market capitalization for First Merchants stands at $2.21 billion, with a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 1.02.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

First Merchants has recently announced a quarterly dividend that was paid on September 20th. Shareholders who were registered as of September 6th received a dividend of $0.35 per share. This brings the annualized dividend to $1.40, yielding 3.71%. The ex-dividend date for this distribution was also September 6th. At present, the company has a dividend payout ratio of 40.35%.

Institutional Investors Update

Several institutional investors have either increased their stakes in First Merchants or initiated new positions. For example, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings by 0.5% during the fourth quarter and now owns 6,571,539 shares, valued at $243,673,000, after acquiring an additional 32,126 shares. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. also entered a new position valued approximately at $229,000 during the first quarter. Denali Advisors LLC raised its stake by 37.1% in the same quarter, now holding 146,377 shares worth $5,109,000 after purchasing an additional 39,577 shares. BNP Paribas Financial Markets also expanded its holdings by 76.7%, now owning 29,313 shares valued at about $1,023,000. Additionally, PDS Planning Inc. established a new stake, worth approximately $230,000. In total, institutional investors and hedge funds own about 73.92% of First Merchants stock.

Company Overview

First Merchants Corporation acts as the financial holding company for First Merchants Bank, providing a variety of community banking services. The company offers financial services such as time, savings, and demand deposits, as well as loans for consumers, businesses, agricultural operations, public finance, and real estate mortgages.

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