Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) Short Interest Update

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,500 shares, a growth of 68.5% from the January 15th total of 9,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 35,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MRBK shares. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Meridian from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Meridian from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meridian

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Banc Funds Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Meridian by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 829,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,480,000 after purchasing an additional 37,450 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Meridian by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 210,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,889,000 after acquiring an additional 12,984 shares during the period. Truffle Hound Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Meridian during the 4th quarter worth about $2,742,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Meridian by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 93,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,838 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Meridian by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 78,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,082,000 after acquiring an additional 9,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Price Performance

NASDAQ:MRBK opened at $16.78 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $15.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.69. The firm has a market cap of $188.61 million, a P/E ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 0.83. Meridian has a 52-week low of $8.26 and a 52-week high of $17.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.14. Meridian had a return on equity of 10.01% and a net margin of 8.28%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meridian will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.48%.

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.