Part of the Insider Trading Tracker guide.
First Merchants CEO buys ~$916k: reading a 95 Greediness Form 4
Mark K. Hardwick filed a direct open-market purchase of First Merchants (FRME) on August 3, 2026 - why a single CEO buy can score in the Strong band, and what the filing still does not prove.
What happened
On August 3, 2026, First Merchants Corp (FRME) CEO Mark K. Hardwick reported an open-market purchase of company stock. The feed export shows roughly 21,000 shares at about $43.63 - on the order of $916,000 - held directly, with a Form 4 filing dated August 4.
Among the highest-Greediness buys in the August 5 export window, this filing scored 95: Strong band. That score is driven by structure (CEO role, cash open-market size, direct ownership, timely filing), not by a prediction of the stock's path.
Why it matters
Most Form 4 noise is sales, option exercises, and tax withholdings. A CEO spending personal cash in size is rarer, which is why the role and size-versus-history factors can push a clean code P filing into the Strong band even when no other insider buys the same week.
Contrast this with a director cluster (several small board buys) or a SPAC filing with a $0 reported price: the FRME print is a straightforward open-market CEO purchase. Read the primary Form 4 on EDGAR to confirm transaction code, share count, and post-transaction holdings before treating the export row as final.
Key signals
- Seniority: Chief Executive Officer - highest role weight in the Form 4 model.
- Economics: reported price near $43.63 with six-figure notional - consistent with a cash open-market buy, not a $0 grant.
- Ownership: Direct holding (not only through a trust or SPV).
- Urgency: trade August 3, filing August 4 - inside the two-business-day window.
No same-week FRME cluster appears in this export. The score is a single-filer Strong reading, not a coordination story.
Context
Bank CEOs sometimes buy after drawdowns, before earnings, or on a personal schedule unrelated to a catalyst. The Form 4 does not state why Hardwick bought. Sector news, valuation, and credit conditions still dominate any investment process around regional banks.
Use the live Insiders feed to open the filing, then compare holdings after the trade to holdings before. Stake impact is part of the score; the export alone is a starting point.
Final takeaway
Treat the FRME CEO Form 4 as a high-priority research queue item: verify code P, size, and direct ownership on EDGAR, then decide whether fundamentals warrant further work. A 95 Greediness Score is a structural flag, not a recommendation to buy FRME.
Sources
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Educational analysis only. Nothing on this page is investment advice. The Greediness Score describes filing structure and does not predict returns.