First Merchants (FRME) CIO Stephan Fluhler Receives 5,000-Share Award

What Happened
Stephan Fluhler, Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of First Merchants Corp (FRME), received a grant of 5,000 shares on 2026-08-03 at a reported price of $43.63 per share (total value ≈ $218,150). Separately, on 2026-08-02, 1,532 shares were disposed of at $43.14 per share (≈ $66,090) as a payment to cover exercise price/tax liability (tax withholding), not an open-market sale.

Key Details

• Transactions:
  • 2026-08-02 — 1,532 shares disposed at $43.14 each (code F: tax/withholding) — ≈ $66,090.
  • 2026-08-03 — 5,000 shares acquired at $43.63 each (code A: grant/award) — ≈ $218,150.
• Holdings note: the filing indicates Restricted Stock Awards totaling 15,567.651 shares are included in reported holdings (footnote F1).
• Phantom stock: each phantom share equals one FRME share economically and may be settled in cash or shares upon separation (footnote F2).
• Filing: Form 4 dated 2026-08-04; the document does not indicate a late filing exception.

Context

• The 1,532-share disposition was for tax withholding related to the award/exercise (routine administrative action), not an open-market sell signal.
• The 5,000-share entry is an awarded grant (an acquisition), which is generally more informative than routine withholding.
• As always, insider grants/withholdings are factual disclosures of compensation and tax mechanics and do not by themselves indicate the insider’s view of the company’s stock.