Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on MRBK. DA Davidson increased their target price on Meridian Bank from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price (up from $20.00) on shares of Meridian Bank in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Meridian Bank in a report on Monday, December 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $22.00.

Meridian Bank Price Performance

Shares of MRBK opened at $18.69 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.99. The company has a market capitalization of $222.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.89 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.98. Meridian Bank has a fifty-two week low of $11.16 and a fifty-two week high of $21.67.

Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.06. Meridian Bank had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 11.81%. The business had revenue of $34.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.41 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meridian Bank will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Meridian Bank

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meridian Bank in the third quarter valued at $34,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Meridian Bank by 26,887.5% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 4,302 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new stake in Meridian Bank during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $64,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Meridian Bank by 125.9% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Meridian Bank by 166.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 3,814 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Bank Company Profile

Meridian Bank, a Pennsylvania-chartered institution founded in 1993 and headquartered in Philadelphia, operates as a full-service community bank serving the Greater Philadelphia region. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Meridian Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ: MRBK), the bank maintains a network of branch locations complemented by online and mobile platforms to meet the evolving needs of individual and business customers.

On the consumer side, Meridian Bank offers a comprehensive suite of deposit products, including checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit, alongside personal lending solutions such as home equity lines of credit, residential mortgage loans and unsecured consumer loans.