FirstMerit Corp

• An Insider Is Buying, Should You?

  By Meena Krishnamsetty - April 30, 2013 | Tickers: FITB, FMER, HBAN, KEY, PNC

  According to a Form 4 filed with the SEC, Russ Strobel, who is a member of FirstMerit's (NASDAQ: FMER) Board of Directors, directly acquired 5,000 shares of stock on April 25 at prices of about $17 per share. This gave him about 9,100 total shares of the $1.9 billion market cap Midwestern bank in his direct holdings, a large increase in percentage terms.

  Why pay attention more »

• A Tour Of 4 Midwestern Regional Banks

  By Maxwell Fisher - March 14, 2013 | Tickers: CMA, FITB, FMER, HBAN

  Cincinnati based Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) has a well-earned reputation as a conservative, well run institution. Despite having much of its asset base in two of the states (Michigan and Florida) most devastated in last decade's recession, Fifth Third has only been unprofitable one year in the last twenty, in 2008. In contrast, 2012 proved that the roughly $120 billion asset bank is back to its pre-recession levels more »

• Insiders Are Crazy About These Stocks

  By Meena Krishnamsetty - February 28, 2013 | Tickers: FMER, HLSS, INFA, TWO

  The principles of diversification conclude that it is unwise to accumulate too much company-specific risk. This is why investors are often advised to buy stocks in different industries or sectors; it is also why company insiders are normally expected to sell rather than buy shares. When insiders buy stock, it signifies a certain level of confidence in the company. This is an explanation for why insider purchases tend to be more »

• 4 Regional Banks With Upside

  By Adnan Khan - February 20, 2013 | Tickers: FITB, FMER, RF, USB

  This article is aimed at screening out undervalued regional banks in the US on which analysts are bullish. These banking stocks would be liquid with little institutional ownership. For this purpose, I examined their daily trading volume, discount to book value, percentage of institutional ownership and consensus recommendation of the analysts covering the stock. The specific criteria are as follows:

  • The selected bank must possess an average trading volume of more »

• Midwest Earnings Preview: Reports from Cleveland

  By John Macris - January 17, 2013 | Tickers: CRBC, FMER, PH, PGR

  Readers may recognize I am intimately familiar with the State of Ohio based on my college alma mater. While Ohio’s gross domestic product contracted more sharply than the country as a whole during the 2008-09 recession, data from the US Department of Commerce indicates that Ohio’s economy is now growing faster than the national average. In particular, thousands of new jobs are being created along the Utica Shale more »

• An Insider Bought at This Regional Bank

  By Meena Krishnamsetty - October 18, 2012 | Tickers: ASBC, FMER, ONB, PVTB, WTFC

  Bruce Hague, who serves as President of National Commercial Banking at PrivateBancorp (NASDAQ: PVTB), bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock on Oct. 11 at an average price of $15.75, according to a filing with the SEC. Hague now owns about 150,000 shares directly. He had also bought shares in the summer of 2011, at prices generally between $8 and $9 per share; note that Hague more »

• Yes, This Bank’s Board Member Is Sure About That Acquisition

  By Meena Krishnamsetty - September 24, 2012 | Tickers: CRBC, FITB, FMER, ONB, WTFC

  Shares of Firstmerit (NASDAQ: FMER) are down about 10% after the company announced that it was acquiring fellow Midwestern bank Citizens Republic Bancorp (NASDAQ: CRBC) earlier this month. Firstmerit plans to make this an all-stock deal, which means that the company believes its stock is overvalued. Citizens Republic Bancorp currently trades at $20.33 per share, which represents a P/B ratio of 0.8.  This means that Firstmerit may more »

• 3 Regional Banks Report: Should You Buy?

  By Michael French - January 29, 2012 | Tickers: CBSH, FMER, HBAN

  Many regional banks are continuing to report earnings this season. We continue to see that those banks that lost money in 2008 and 2009 are only marginally profitable today, while those that had steadier performance are on more solid footing today. Earnings in the fourth quarter are proving more difficult to come by for many banks than in the previous quarter, as the temporary easy fix of taking cash from more »

• Big Dividend, Bad Bank

  By Patrick King - January 28, 2012 | Tickers: FMER, KEY, PRK

  A friend recently put me onto Park National (NYSEMKT: PRK). It has been on a nice run lately, up 15% since November. At first glance, the runup would seem to be justified. It has managed to rid itself of the money-losing Vision Bank, and announced that it's improved earnings 30% over 2010. And with a dividend of over 5% and a profit margin of over 17%, it fits my more »

• Why Missing Estimates Was Good For Huntington Bancshares Investors

  By Tim Brugger - January 19, 2012 | Tickers: FNB, FMER, HBAN

  It never fails; in the midst of earnings season there are always companies that perform exceptionally well, only to drop because they didn’t meet the vaunted “analyst estimates.” As an investor it would be easy to find this trend frustrating -- a stock dropping because profit increased, but just not enough to appease analysts. But for the savvy investor, these pose great opportunities to buy on the downside because invariably more »