Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,900 shares, an increase of 36.9% from the December 15th total of 6,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 22,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRBK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Meridian from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Meridian from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th.

Institutional Trading of Meridian

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRBK. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Meridian by 6.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 171,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 10,514 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Meridian during the third quarter worth about $128,000. Banc Funds Co. LLC grew its position in shares of Meridian by 4.7% during the third quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 829,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,480,000 after purchasing an additional 37,450 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Meridian by 10.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 40,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 3,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Meridian by 3.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 93,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after buying an additional 2,838 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Stock Performance

MRBK traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $15.08. The company had a trading volume of 7,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 34,321. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $14.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.95. The company has a market cap of $169.50 million, a P/E ratio of 14.93 and a beta of 0.81. Meridian has a 1 year low of $8.26 and a 1 year high of $17.33.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $51.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.57 million. Meridian had a return on equity of 6.99% and a net margin of 6.00%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meridian will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.51%.

About Meridian

Meridian Corporation operates as the holding company for Meridian Bank that provides commercial banking products and services in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Florida, and Maryland. The company offers various deposit products, such as demand non-interest bearing, demand interest bearing, savings accounts, money market accounts, and time deposits.