Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) CEO Buys $13,485.00 in Stock

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) CEO Christopher J. Annas acquired 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.99 per share, for a total transaction of $13,485.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 357,878 shares in the company, valued at $3,217,323.22. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Meridian Price Performance

NASDAQ:MRBK opened at $8.75 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $97.91 million, a PE ratio of 8.33 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.10. Meridian Co. has a 52 week low of $7.80 and a 52 week high of $14.24.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $45.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.68 million. Meridian had a return on equity of 7.64% and a net margin of 6.75%. As a group, analysts forecast that Meridian Co. will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.71%. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on MRBK shares. Piper Sandler cut shares of Meridian from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $14.00 to $13.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. TheStreet cut Meridian from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meridian

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MRBK. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Meridian in the fourth quarter worth approximately $476,000. Strid Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meridian in the 1st quarter valued at $431,000. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp bought a new position in shares of Meridian in the 4th quarter worth $670,000. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Meridian by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 92,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 3,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Meridian by 11.8% in the third quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 191,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 20,138 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

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.