Meridian’s (MRBK) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reissued their overweight rating on shares of Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a $20.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $24.00.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on MRBK. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Meridian from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. DA Davidson downgraded Meridian from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

Meridian Stock Down 4.5%

MRBK stock opened at $16.35 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $18.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $195.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.96 and a beta of 0.65. Meridian has a 52 week low of $13.92 and a 52 week high of $21.67.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 30th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $30.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 million. Meridian had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 11.37%. On average, analysts forecast that Meridian will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 9th. Meridian’s payout ratio is 29.32%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Meridian during the second quarter valued at $13,832,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in Meridian by 103.9% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 64,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after buying an additional 32,739 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meridian during the second quarter valued at approximately $660,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Meridian by 9.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 434,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,229,000 after acquiring an additional 38,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Meridian by 17.0% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 25,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $515,000 after acquiring an additional 3,718 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Company Profile

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.