Christopher J. Annas Acquires 1,500 Shares of Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) Stock

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) CEO Christopher J. Annas bought 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.99 per share, with a total value of $13,485.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 357,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,217,323.22. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Meridian Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MRBK opened at $8.75 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $9.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Meridian Co. has a 12-month low of $7.80 and a 12-month high of $14.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.91 million, a P/E ratio of 8.33 and a beta of 0.70.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. Meridian had a return on equity of 7.64% and a net margin of 6.75%. The business had revenue of $45.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.68 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Meridian Co. will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Meridian’s payout ratio is currently 47.62%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. LSV Asset Management increased its position in Meridian by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 92,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 3,114 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Meridian by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 191,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 20,138 shares during the last quarter. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Meridian in the 4th quarter worth about $476,000. Strid Group LLC acquired a new position in Meridian in the 1st quarter worth about $431,000. Finally, Mendon Capital Advisors Corp acquired a new position in Meridian in the 4th quarter worth about $670,000. 58.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MRBK shares. Piper Sandler lowered Meridian from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. TheStreet lowered shares of Meridian from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th.

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.