Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) Director Anthony Mark Imbesi Purchases 1,000 Shares

Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) Director Anthony Mark Imbesi purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.38 per share, for a total transaction of $17,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 386,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,711,391.28. This represents a 0.26% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Meridian Bank Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ MRBK traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $17.41. 79,659 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 101,976. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.97. Meridian Bank has a 52 week low of $11.16 and a 52 week high of $21.67. The company has a market cap of $207.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.41 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $19.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.00.

Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.09). Meridian Bank had a net margin of 11.68% and a return on equity of 12.61%. The firm had revenue of $30.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.79 million. Research analysts anticipate that Meridian Bank will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Meridian Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Meridian Bank’s payout ratio is currently 27.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meridian Bank

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRBK. CWM LLC bought a new stake in Meridian Bank in the third quarter worth $34,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Meridian Bank by 26,887.5% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 4,302 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Meridian Bank in the second quarter worth $64,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Meridian Bank by 125.9% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,331 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Meridian Bank by 166.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 3,814 shares during the last quarter. 58.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler set a $21.00 price target on Meridian Bank and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Zacks Research lowered Meridian Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Meridian Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Meridian Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on Meridian Bank from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.00.

About Meridian Bank

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.