Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Acquires 12,984 Shares of Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 210,758 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,984 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 1.88% of Meridian worth $2,889,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MRBK. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Meridian in the 4th quarter worth about $139,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Meridian by 265.1% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 36,959 shares of the company’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 26,835 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew 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 last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Meridian by 122.9% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 44,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $613,000 after purchasing an additional 24,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meridian by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 78,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,082,000 after purchasing an additional 9,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meridian

In other Meridian news, Director Robert M. Casciato acquired 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $13.79 per share, for a total transaction of $27,580.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 215,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,970,310.84. This represents a 0.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 14.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRBK has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Meridian from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Meridian from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th.

Meridian Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:MRBK opened at $14.21 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Meridian Co. has a 12 month low of $9.10 and a 12 month high of $17.33. The firm has a market cap of $160.36 million, a P/E ratio of 9.80 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $13.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.71.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.12). Meridian had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 10.01%. The business had revenue of $27.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.93 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meridian Co. will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.21%.

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.