First Merchants Corp. (FRME)

Key figures

The last twelve months reported, with the latest price and balance sheet.

Revenue, last twelve months

$691.5M

Revenue growth

5.1%

Net income, last twelve months

$186.0M

Earnings per share

$3.12

Net margin

26.9%

Return on equity

6.9%

Market value

$2.5B

Price to earnings

13.0x

Dividend yield

3.6%

Cash

$86.7M

Debt

$1.6B

Debt to equity

0.59

Shares outstanding

62.2M

Financial statements

Revenue, profit and cash flow by fiscal year, each year linked to its annual report.

By quarter

What the company said with its results

From the third quarter of 2026 results, filed 21 October 2026.

• Net income rose to $67.8 million. Net income available to common stockholders was $67.8 million, or $1.09 per diluted share, against $43.5 million, or $0.70, in the second quarter and $56.3 million, or $0.98, a year earlier.
• Adjusted pre-tax, pre-provision income. Adjusted pre-tax, pre-provision income was $83.7 million, a slight decline from the prior quarter and up from the third quarter of 2025.
• Diluted EPS up 11 percent. Management said diluted earnings per share were $1.09, up 11 percent from the year-earlier quarter.
• Adjusted diluted EPS of $1.10. Acquisition-related costs of $0.9 million, mainly equipment and professional fees, were excluded from adjusted diluted EPS of $1.10, against $0.99 a year earlier.
• Nine-month adjusted results shown. Nine-month diluted EPS was $2.24 GAAP and $2.87 adjusted, against $2.90 and $2.91 a year earlier. Adjustments totaled $51.4 million pre-tax, including a first-quarter mortgage loan valuation charge.
• Net interest margin rose to 3.44%. The fully taxable equivalent net interest margin was 3.44%, up six basis points on the quarter and 20 basis points on the year.
• Net interest income up $2.1 million. Net interest income was $161.1 million, up $2.1 million (1.3%) on the quarter and $27.4 million (20.5%) on the year.
• Interest expense on earning assets eased. Interest expense as a share of average earning assets was 2.12%, against 2.34% a year earlier.
• Deposit cost on interest-bearing deposits. Interest-bearing deposit cost was 2.78% for the quarter, against 2.85% a year earlier, on average balances of $13.1 billion.
• Noninterest income rose $0.8 million. Noninterest income was $38.0 million, up $0.8 million on the quarter and $5.5 million on the year.
• Fee income drivers named. The linked-quarter increase came from deposit service charges and CRA investment income recorded in Other Income.
• Noninterest expense rose $0.9 million. Noninterest expense was $116.3 million, up $19.7 million from the third quarter of 2025.
• Marketing and health costs increased. Excluding acquisition costs, expense rose $3.9 million on the quarter, including marketing up $1.4 million, employee health insurance up $0.7 million, and premises up $0.6 million with a $0.5 million lease impairment.
• Acquisition costs down from second quarter. Acquisition-related costs were $0.9 million this quarter and $3.8 million in the prior quarter.

Company events

The newest 8-K filings of 468 held.

Every filing

The newest filings with the SEC of 893 held.

Insider trades

Form 4 trades by officers, directors and 10% owners, last 12 months.

Planned insider sales

Form 144 notices, filed when the sell order goes to the broker.

Large holders

Schedule 13D and 13G filings by holders of more than 5% of the voting shares.

Short interest

Shares sold short and not yet bought back, on each FINRA settlement date.

Funds that hold it

From each fund's latest Form 13F.

331 funds held it at 30 Jun 2026: 152 added and 84 trimmed in the quarter. The largest:

Peers

Companies in the same industry.

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM): revenue $199.4B, market value $902.3B
• Bank of America Corp. (BAC): revenue –, market value $357.1B
• Wells Fargo & Company (WFC): revenue $87.2B, market value $251.3B
• Citigroup Inc. (C): revenue $91.4B, market value $208.2B
• Capital One Financial Corp. (COF): revenue $62.0B, market value $125.7B
• Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (MFG): revenue $29.9B, market value $118.8B
• U.S. Bancorp (USB): revenue $29.6B, market value $92.9B
• PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (PNC): revenue $25.0B, market value $91.1B
• Truist Financial Corp. (TFC): revenue $19.4B, market value $58.1B
• Huntington Bancshares Inc. (HBAN): revenue $10.4B, market value $31.7B

What the company does

First Merchants Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Muncie, Indiana, organized in September 1982. Its common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol FRME. The company has one bank charter, First Merchants Bank, which opened in Muncie in March 1893.

How the business is organised

The company says its business activities are limited to one segment, community banking. All of its banking is done through First Merchants Bank. Customers can also reach the Bank through electronic and mobile channels in addition to the branch network.

What it sells

The commercial banking team offers debt capital, treasury management services, and deposit products. The consumer banking group offers consumer deposit and lending products. The mortgage banking team helps customers buy, refinance, build, or renovate residential property. Private Wealth Advisors provides personal wealth management, including investment management, private banking, fiduciary estate work, and financial planning.

How it makes money

Net interest income is the largest part of earnings, at 80.9 percent of revenues in 2025. It is the interest earned on loans and securities less the interest paid on deposits and borrowings. The company's main lending areas are small business and middle market commercial lending, commercial real estate, public finance, and residential real estate. Of the loan portfolio, 76.2 percent is commercial in orientation.

- Commercial and industrial loans, at 32.4 percent. - - Commercial real estate that is not owner occupied, at 17.0 percent. - -

Customer deposits fund the loans. Core deposits were 94.0 percent of the deposit portfolio, and noninterest-bearing deposits were 14.0 percent. Fee income comes from sources such as service charges on deposit accounts and fiduciary and wealth management fees.

Where it operates

Loans come mainly from customers in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. On 1 February 2026 the company completed its acquisition of First Savings Financial Group, headquartered in Jeffersonville, Indiana, which had 16 banking centers serving southern Indiana. First Savings Bank was merged into First Merchants Bank right after the transaction. The company says its policy is to keep expanding geographically by acquiring banks whose operations fit its banking philosophy. It says it pays for acquisitions in cash, in common stock, or in a combination of the two.

How it competes

The Bank competes with national, regional, and internet banks, and with smaller community banks that try to match its service levels. It also competes with savings and loan associations, credit unions, finance companies, brokerage firms, and insurance companies. The filing notes that many competitors are larger and have more financial resources. The Bank says its targeted clients choose a bank mainly for quality of customer service and convenient access to a range of financial products.

Regulation

The company is a bank holding company that has elected to be a financial holding company, supervised by the Federal Reserve. The Bank is supervised by the FDIC and the Indiana DFI. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has supervisory authority over the Bank because it is above the $10 billion asset threshold. Under the Durbin Amendment, the Bank is subject to limits on debit card interchange fees. At 31 December 2025 both the company and the Bank were well capitalized under the capital rules. In its last Community Reinvestment Act examination, the Bank received a rating of satisfactory.

Its people

The company states its mission as being the most attentive, knowledgeable, and high performing bank. In its biennial survey, 65 percent of employees were considered highly engaged. Overall turnover was 18 percent in 2025, against a goal of 20 percent or lower. Over 55 employees took part in the education assistance program. Required training courses had a completion rate of 99.7 percent. Over 1,500 employees took part in the annual talent calibration process. The company also has several employee resource groups, all open to every employee.

*From First Merchants's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 31 December 2025. [The filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/712534/000071253426000022/frme-20251231.htm)*

From the company's 10-K.