Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Buys 44,332 Shares of Meridian Bank $MRBK

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) by 114.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 83,179 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 44,332 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.74% of Meridian Bank worth $1,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Meridian Bank by 75.3% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 122,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,758,000 after buying an additional 52,500 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Meridian Bank by 113.9% during the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 79,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,139,000 after acquiring an additional 42,106 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in Meridian Bank by 178.7% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 65,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $943,000 after purchasing an additional 41,984 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Meridian Bank by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 61,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $841,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Meridian Bank by 410.2% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 52,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $716,000 after acquiring an additional 42,004 shares during the period. 58.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Meridian Bank from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.50.

Meridian Bank Stock Performance

NASDAQ MRBK opened at $15.97 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $180.46 million, a PE ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.01. Meridian Bank has a 52-week low of $11.16 and a 52-week high of $17.33.

Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $32.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.65 million. Meridian Bank had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 10.62%. On average, research analysts predict that Meridian Bank will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Meridian Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 18th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Meridian Bank’s payout ratio is currently 31.06%.

Meridian Bank 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.