Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) Short Interest Update

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 21,200 shares, a drop of 20.6% from the August 15th total of 26,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meridian

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Meridian by 38.3% in the first quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,482 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Meridian by 98.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,828 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,000 after buying an additional 5,871 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in shares of Meridian by 98.6% during the 1st quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 14,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,000 after acquiring an additional 7,100 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Meridian by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Meridian by 56.8% during the first quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 15,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,000 after acquiring an additional 5,586 shares in the last quarter. 45.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meridian Stock Performance

Meridian stock traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $10.88. 7,664 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,378. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $11.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.81. Meridian has a fifty-two week low of $7.80 and a fifty-two week high of $17.38. The firm has a market cap of $121.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 28th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $26.22 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.26 million. Meridian had a return on equity of 12.44% and a net margin of 12.72%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meridian will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Meridian Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 21st. Investors of record on Monday, August 14th were paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 11th. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.86%.

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.