Dallas, Texas 10/03/2013 (Financialstrend) – In a bid to retain and enthuse its share holders after a weak 2Q earnings report, FirstMerit Corporation (NASDAQ: FMER) declared a $0.16 per share quarterly dividend on August 15. It was payable on Sept. 16 to its shareholders on record as of August 26. Since August 23 which was the ex dividend date, the stock has shed close to 11% of its market value. The share price had bottomed out at $20.6 as of September 19, which is just a shade above its 3 month low pricing bench mark. Since then it has staged a 7.7% recovery on the back of concerted attempt by FirstMerit management.
One of its September 18 press statements saw the stock responding positively on the browsers. It was FirstMerit Corporation Launch of “Mobile Banking Products” for its business customers. As part of this new service, the bank provided its customers mobile applications which allowed them to deposit checks through mobile devices. Customers were also provided with options to conduct few of their banking services via SMS. Business customers can use First Merit banking application to view their account balance information, initiate intra bank funds transfer, pay third party bills. Additionally using SMS, account holders can request up to date account balance information. The bank hopes to develop a regular stream of revenue by charging its customers who transact using their mobile application.
The second piece of good news was FirstMerit’s announcement of dividend payout to its Preferred Stock, Series A Shares holders. At an annualized rate the dividend yield moves close to 7% mark. Since the announcements were made the stock has started to gain in market value.
The Bank has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion with net income of $155 million. Its annual dividend yield over a 12 month trailing period is 2.93%.
