Michael Rechin, president and CEO at First Merchants Corp. (FRME, Financial), Director William Hoy and Senior Vice President Stephan Fluhler sold a combined total of 23,918 shares of the company in the month of March.
Rechin sold 16,461 shares on March 1 for $40.67 per share. He now owns 106,494 shares of the company.
Hoy sold 5,657 shares on March 13 for $39.92 per share. He now owns 24,452 shares.
Fluhler sold 1,800 shares for $38.60 per share on March 21. He now owns 9,548 shares.
First Merchants is a financial holding company. The company has a bank charter, First Merchants Bank, which is opened for business in Muncie, Indiana. It operates through the community banking business segment. The bank also operates Lafayette Bank and Trust and First Merchants Private Wealth Advisors.
As of Dec. 31, 2016, the company had 106 banking locations. In addition to its branch network, the company's delivery channels include automated teller machines, check cards and internet technology.
First Merchants has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 19.83, an enterprise value of $1.89 billion, a price-book (P/B) ratio of 1.75 and a dividend yield of 1.75%.
According to GuruFocus, the company has a 5 of 10 financial strength rating with a cash-debt ratio of 0.36 and an equity-asset ratio of 0.13. The company’s Beneish M-Score of -2.77 suggests it is not a manipulator of its financial statements.
The company has a 4 of 10 profitability and growth rating. It has an operating margin of 37.19%, a net margin of 27.74%, a return on assets (ROA) of 1.17% and a three-year revenue growth rate of 0.50%.
Over the past five years, the company has averaged a 7.53% increase in revenue, 15.93% increase in net income, 8.09% increase in earnings per share and 5.16% increase in cash flow.
First Merchants' market price has gained an estimated 232% over the past five years and 68% over the previous year.
The Peter Lynch chart below shows the stock is trading above its intrinsic value.
Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) added to his stake in First Merchants during the fourth quarter. Since then, the stock price has gained an estimated 24%.
Disclosure: Author does not own any shares of this company.
Start a free 7-day trial of Premium Membership to GuruFocus.
