Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 42,500 shares, a decrease of 17.3% from the February 28th total of 51,400 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 54,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meridian

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Truffle Hound Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meridian in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,742,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Meridian by 410.2% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 52,244 shares of the company's stock valued at $716,000 after buying an additional 42,004 shares during the last quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meridian by 4.7% in the third quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 829,153 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,480,000 after acquiring an additional 37,450 shares during the period. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meridian by 161.4% in the fourth quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 48,587 shares of the company's stock valued at $666,000 after acquiring an additional 30,000 shares during the period. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meridian in the 4th quarter valued at $395,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.56% of the company's stock.

Meridian Stock Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ MRBK traded down $0.37 during trading on Friday, reaching $12.71. 64,921 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 26,564. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $15.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.59. The stock has a market cap of $143.43 million, a P/E ratio of 8.77 and a beta of 0.68. Meridian has a 1 year low of $8.26 and a 1 year high of $17.33. 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 (NASDAQ:MRBK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 research analysts anticipate that Meridian will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors 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 3.93%. Meridian's dividend 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.