DA Davidson Has Negative Outlook of Meridian FY2025 Earnings

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) – Equities research analysts at DA Davidson dropped their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for Meridian in a research report issued on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson analyst M. Navas now anticipates that the company will earn $1.75 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $1.90. DA Davidson currently has a “Buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meridian’s current full-year earnings is $1.29 per share.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last posted its earnings results 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. Meridian had a net margin of 6.00% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The business had revenue of $51.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.57 million.

Separately, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meridian from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th.

Meridian Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of Meridian stock opened at $14.17 on Monday. Meridian has a twelve month low of $8.26 and a twelve month high of $17.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company’s 50 day moving average is $14.68 and its 200 day moving average is $12.51. The company has a market cap of $159.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03 and a beta of 0.78.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meridian

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Meridian during the third quarter valued at approximately $128,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Meridian by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 171,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after acquiring an additional 10,514 shares during the period. Banc Funds Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Meridian by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 829,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,480,000 after purchasing an additional 37,450 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meridian by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 93,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,838 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. Meridian’s payout ratio is currently 49.51%.

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.