Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) Stock Price Down 0.4% – Here’s What Happened

Meridian Corp (NASDAQ:MRBK)’s share price fell 0.4% during trading on Monday. The company traded as low as $18.42 and last traded at $18.44. 41,757 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 62,752 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.51.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MRBK. Weiss Ratings upgraded Meridian from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. DA Davidson set a $23.00 target price on shares of Meridian in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meridian has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Meridian Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $19.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 0.65.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $32.67 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.31 million. Meridian had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 11.89%. On average, analysts forecast that Meridian Corp will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Meridian Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 10th. Meridian’s payout ratio is currently 27.18%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meridian

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Meridian during the second quarter worth about $13,832,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Meridian by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 434,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,229,000 after acquiring an additional 38,719 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in Meridian by 103.9% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 64,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 32,739 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meridian during the second quarter worth about $660,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Meridian by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 25,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 3,718 shares during the period. 58.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meridian Company Profile

Meridian Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania. Through its principal subsidiary, Meridian Bank, the company provides commercial and community banking services to businesses, professionals and individuals in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Meridian Bank offers business lending, commercial real estate financing, construction loans, equipment financing, residential and consumer lending, deposit accounts, cash-management services and online banking. The company also provides mortgage banking and wealth management services, including investment and financial planning solutions.

Meridian was established in 2004 and serves customers through a network of banking offices in southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and surrounding markets.