Short Interest in Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) Grows By 68.5%

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) saw a large 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price target 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. DA Davidson upped their price target 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meridian

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Meridian during the 3rd quarter valued at about $128,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Meridian during the 4th quarter valued at about $139,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meridian during the 4th quarter valued at about $186,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Meridian by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 2,609 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meridian during the 4th quarter valued at about $322,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MRBK traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $16.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 94,638 shares, compared to its average volume of 44,410. Meridian has a 12-month low of $8.26 and a 12-month high of $17.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $15.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $188.61 million, a P/E ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 0.83.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.14. Meridian had a return on equity of 10.01% and a net margin of 8.28%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meridian will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given 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 payout ratio 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.