Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) Short Interest Update

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 51,400 shares, an increase of 227.4% from the February 13th total of 15,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 49,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days. Currently, 0.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Meridian

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Banc Funds Co. LLC grew its position in shares of Meridian by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 829,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,480,000 after buying an additional 37,450 shares during the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Meridian by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 432,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,924,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Meridian by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 210,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,889,000 after purchasing an additional 12,984 shares during the period. Truffle Hound Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meridian in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,742,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meridian by 3.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 93,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,838 shares during the period. 58.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meridian Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MRBK traded down $0.02 during trading on Thursday, hitting $13.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 20,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,615. The company has a market capitalization of $155.99 million, a PE ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $15.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.97. Meridian has a fifty-two week low of $8.26 and a fifty-two week high of $17.33.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meridian will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Meridian Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. Meridian’s payout ratio is 34.48%.

About Meridian

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.