Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MRBK. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Meridian Bank from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Meridian Bank in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective (up from $20.00) on shares of Meridian Bank in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Meridian Bank currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Meridian Bank Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of Meridian Bank stock opened at $20.50 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $19.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Meridian Bank has a twelve month low of $11.16 and a twelve month high of $21.67. The stock has a market cap of $243.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.85 and a beta of 0.75.

Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.06. Meridian Bank had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 11.81%. The firm had revenue of $34.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.41 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Meridian Bank will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This is an increase from Meridian Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Meridian Bank’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meridian Bank

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fourthstone LLC lifted its position in shares of Meridian Bank by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 1,121,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,721,000 after purchasing an additional 49,561 shares during the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. lifted its position in shares of Meridian Bank by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 437,696 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,695,000 after purchasing an additional 5,100 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Meridian Bank by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 395,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,949,000 after purchasing an additional 33,357 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meridian Bank by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 213,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,747,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Meridian Bank by 99.3% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 171,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,712,000 after purchasing an additional 85,562 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Bank Company Profile

Meridian Bank, a Pennsylvania-chartered institution founded in 1993 and headquartered in Philadelphia, operates as a full-service community bank serving the Greater Philadelphia region. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Meridian Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ: MRBK), the bank maintains a network of branch locations complemented by online and mobile platforms to meet the evolving needs of individual and business customers.

On the consumer side, Meridian Bank offers a comprehensive suite of deposit products, including checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit, alongside personal lending solutions such as home equity lines of credit, residential mortgage loans and unsecured consumer loans.