Barclays PLC Boosts Stake in Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK)

Barclays PLC grew its stake in Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,406 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,675 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.36% of Meridian worth $511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MRBK. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Meridian during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $128,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Meridian by 6.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 171,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,801,000 after acquiring an additional 10,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banc Funds Co. LLC raised its stake in Meridian by 4.7% in the third quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 829,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,480,000 after buying an additional 37,450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRBK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Meridian from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Meridian from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

Meridian Price Performance

Meridian stock opened at $13.96 on Friday. Meridian Co. has a 1 year low of $8.26 and a 1 year high of $17.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $14.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.70. The company has a market cap of $156.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.82 and a beta of 0.78.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $51.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.57 million. Meridian had a net margin of 6.00% and a return on equity of 6.99%. Sell-side analysts predict that Meridian Co. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Meridian Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.50%.

About Meridian

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.