profit from every $100 of sales.
$0$100
First Merchants
$40.90-0.10% today
+13.1% in 1 year
1-year low $34.991-year high $45.23
Trading in the middle of its range for the past year.
The essentials
Four questions every investor asks, answered in one line each.
more sales each year, on average, 2022 to 2025.
0%20% a year
You pay $11.34 for every $1 of profit it makes in a year.
CheapExpensive
Not measured for banks and insurers: deposits and policy reserves count as debt, so the usual debt test says nothing about them.
Money in, money out
What First Merchants sold, what it kept, and what it did with the cash.
Sales went from $628 million in 2022 to $663 million in 2025, with $226 million of profit last year.
SalesProfit
First Merchants handed back 46% of the cash it generated last year.
Buybacks $47M$85M
Free cash flow 2025$284M
Bought back its own shares$47M
Paid as dividends$85M
Cash vs. debt$280M vs. $856M
First Merchants vs. similar companies
First Merchants grows in the middle of these 5 and is priced in the middle for its profits.
| Company | Profit from $100 of sales | Sales growth a year | Price per $1 of profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Merchants | 11.3× · Cheap | ||
 China Merchants Bank | 7.7× · Cheap | ||
 DBS Group Holdings | 18.2× · Fair price | ||
 UniCredit | 11.5× · Cheap | ||
 HDFC Bank | 18.6× · Fair price |
AI analysis
An AI analyst reads First Merchants's last five years, its segments, earnings, insiders and peers, and writes the bull case, the bear case and what the price expects.
Run the AI analysisFull statementsIncome, balance sheet and cash flow, year by year
Income statement
| In millions of USD | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 628 | 651 | 627 | 663 | |
| – | – | – | – | |
| – | – | – | – | |
| – | – | – | – | |
| 222 | 224 | 201 | 226 | |
| 3.81 | 3.73 | 3.41 | 3.88 | |
| – | – | – | – | |
| – | – | – | – | |
| 35.4% | 34.4% | 32.1% | 34.1% |
Balance sheet
| In millions of USD | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total assets | 18,002 | 18,406 | 18,312 | 19,025 |
| Cash | 249 | 549 | 387 | 280 |
| Total debt | 975 | 871 | 916 | 856 |
| Total liabilities | 15,967 | 16,158 | 16,007 | 16,558 |
| 2,035 | 2,248 | 2,305 | 2,467 | |
| 58 | 59 | 59 | 58 | |
| – | – | – | – | |
| 10.9% | 10.0% | 8.7% | 9.2% |
Cash flow
| In millions of USD | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 284 | 259 | 266 | 284 | |
| – | – | – | – | |
| 284 | 259 | 266 | 284 | |
| Dividends paid | 74 | 82 | 83 | 85 |
| 0 | 0 | 56 | 47 | |
| 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
This is a bank or insurer, so cash-flow and debt ratios are left out: borrowing and lending is the business itself. Price to book and return on equity are the measures that matter here.
Valuation
- 11.3×
- 11.2×
- 18.63
- 1.0×
- 3.9×
- 8.8%
- 3.6%
Profitability
- 34.1%
- 7.5%
- 6.8%
- 8.0%
- 0.9%
Growth
- +1.8%
- +0.6%
- +6.6%
- −0.1%
How it ranks in Financial Services
Each dot is where the company stands among every company over $300M in the sector. Further right is better.
Top 38%of 754
Bottom 48%of 605
Top 36%of 883
Bottom 25%of 880
Top 20%of 929
What analysts expect
- Average price target
- $49.00
- Range
- $49.00 – $49.00
These targets were collected on May 20, 2026 and our analyst feed has not updated since, so we no longer compare them with today's price.
Recent earnings
Our results feed has not updated since May 21, 2026. Results reported after that are not in this table yet.
| Date | EPS | Expected | Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 22, 2026 | 1.03 | 0.96 | +7.3% |
| Jan 26, 2026 | 0.98 | 0.96 | +2.1% |
| Oct 22, 2025 | 0.99 | 0.96 | +2.9% |
| Jul 23, 2025 | 0.98 | 0.94 | +4.3% |
| Apr 24, 2025 | 0.94 | 0.91 | +3.3% |
| Jan 30, 2025 | 1.00 | 0.90 | +11.1% |
| Oct 24, 2024 | 0.84 | 0.90 | −6.7% |
| Jul 25, 2024 | 0.68 | 0.80 | −15.0% |
3.6%of the share price, paid each year
On $1,000 invested$36a year at today's yield, before tax
+6.6%2020 to 2025
Raised10 yearsin a row, in our data
Paid per share, each year
$0.41 in 2015 → $1.43 in 2025
How safe it looks
37.5% of its profit
Room to growStretchedMore than it earns: 29.9%
News
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Our insider feed has not updated since May 26, 2026. Trades filed after that are not listed yet.
No insider trades on file.
The seven classic investing rulebooks
1/7Passes 1 of 7. Each bar is how well the company fits that investor's published rules, from 0 to 100; 60 or more counts as a pass.
Warren Buffett
59No pass
Benjamin Graham
89Pass
Philip Fisher
54No pass
Peter Lynch
21No pass
Joel Greenblatt
23No pass
Charlie Munger
52No pass
Terry Smith
49No pass
Questions about First Merchants
Is First Merchants a good stock to buy?
A strong, very profitable business, and the price looks low. 1 of the 7 famous investors' published rulebooks we apply pass it. Whether it suits you depends on your goals and the price you pay; invest-like never tells anyone to buy or sell. The AI analysis lays out the case for and against. Read the First Merchants AI analysis
What does First Merchants do?
First Merchants Corporation operates as the financial holding company for First Merchants Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking services. It is in Banks - Regional, based in Muncie, IN, United States, with 2,086 employees.
Does First Merchants pay a dividend?
Yes. At today's price the dividend is 3.6% a year, about 38% of its yearly profit. In 2025 it paid out $84.8 million in dividends.
Is First Merchants stock halal?
No. First Merchants does not pass our halal screen: its main business, banking, is not permitted. How we check
How has First Merchants stock done over the past year?
Up 13.1% over the past twelve months, to $40.90. It traded between $34.99 and $45.23 and is 9.6% below its high.
Who are First Merchants's competitors?
The largest listed companies in the same industry are China Merchants Bank, DBS Group Holdings, UniCredit and HDFC Bank. The peers table on this page compares their profit, growth and price with First Merchants's.
Prices: daily closes to Nov 13, 2026. Fundamentals: company reports via invest-like data.