Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) Stock Price Down 0.4% – What’s Next?

Meridian Corp (NASDAQ:MRBK) traded down 0.4% on Monday. The company traded as low as $18.42 and last traded at $18.44. 41,757 shares changed 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Meridian Stock Down 0.4%

The firm has a market cap of $219.99 million, a PE ratio of 8.95 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.29 and a 200-day simple moving average 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.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.03). Meridian had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 11.89%. The firm had revenue of $32.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.31 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Meridian Corp will post 1.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th were paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.18%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meridian in the second quarter worth $13,832,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Meridian by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 434,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,229,000 after purchasing an additional 38,719 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meridian during the 2nd quarter valued at $660,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in shares of Meridian by 103.9% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 64,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 32,739 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of Meridian during the 1st quarter valued at $416,000. 58.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Meridian

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.