Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) Short Interest Update

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MRBK shares. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Meridian from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Meridian from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meridian

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Meridian during the third quarter worth $128,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Meridian during the fourth quarter worth $139,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meridian during the fourth quarter worth $186,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Meridian by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 2,609 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Meridian during the fourth quarter worth $322,000. 58.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meridian Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ MRBK opened at $16.78 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $15.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.69. 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 has a 52-week low of $8.26 and a 52-week high of $17.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.61 million, a P/E ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 0.83.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.14. Meridian had a return on equity of 10.01% and a net margin of 8.28%. Equities research analysts expect that Meridian will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.48%.

Meridian Company Profile

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.