Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) Short Interest Up 17.2% in August

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) saw a significant increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,000 shares, an increase of 17.2% from the August 15th total of 12,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 13,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Meridian from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th.

Meridian Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MRBK traded up $0.35 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $12.00. The company had a trading volume of 30,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,495. Meridian has a 52 week low of $8.26 and a 52 week high of $14.24. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $11.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.27. The stock has a market cap of $134.23 million, a PE ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $26.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.57 million. Meridian had a return on equity of 6.66% and a net margin of 5.85%. Analysts expect that Meridian will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Meridian Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 19th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio is 47.62%.

Institutional Trading of Meridian

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRBK. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meridian by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 54,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 2,396 shares during the last quarter. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Meridian during the 4th quarter worth $476,000. Banc Funds Co. LLC raised its position in shares of Meridian by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 782,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,879,000 after acquiring an additional 53,990 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Meridian by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 171,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 10,514 shares during the period. Finally, Strid Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meridian in the 1st quarter worth $431,000. 58.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.