Insider Buying: Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) CEO Purchases 1,500 Shares of Stock

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) CEO Christopher J. Annas bought 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.99 per share, with a total value of $13,485.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 357,878 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,217,323.22. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Meridian Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Meridian stock opened at $8.75 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.33 and a beta of 0.70. Meridian Co. has a twelve month low of $7.80 and a twelve month high of $14.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.10.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. Meridian had a return on equity of 7.64% and a net margin of 6.75%. The firm had revenue of $45.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.68 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Meridian Co. will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.71%. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on MRBK. TheStreet downgraded shares of Meridian from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Meridian from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $14.00 to $13.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MRBK. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Meridian by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 92,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after buying an additional 3,114 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Meridian by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 191,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 20,138 shares in the last quarter. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meridian in the fourth quarter worth $476,000. Strid Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meridian during the first quarter valued at $431,000. Finally, Mendon Capital Advisors Corp bought a new stake in shares of Meridian during the fourth quarter valued at about $670,000. Institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

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.