Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) Short Interest Up 36.9% in December

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,900 shares, an increase of 36.9% from the December 15th total of 6,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 22,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MRBK shares. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Meridian from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Meridian from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meridian

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRBK. Banc Funds Co. LLC increased its holdings in Meridian by 4.7% during the third quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 829,153 shares of the company's stock worth $10,480,000 after buying an additional 37,450 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Meridian by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 171,249 shares of the company's stock worth $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 10,514 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meridian by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 93,534 shares of the company's stock worth $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,838 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Meridian by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 40,406 shares of the company's stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 3,675 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Meridian in the third quarter valued at approximately $128,000. 58.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meridian Stock Up 0.1 %

Meridian stock traded up $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $15.31. 33,628 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,912. 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 business's 50 day moving average is $14.93 and its 200 day moving average is $13.00. Meridian has a 52 week low of $8.26 and a 52 week high of $17.33. The company has a market capitalization of $172.08 million, a P/E ratio of 15.16 and a beta of 0.81.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.07. Meridian had a net margin of 6.00% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The company had revenue of $51.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.57 million. Analysts predict that Meridian will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Meridian's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.51%.

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.