Fourthstone LLC Has $14.12 Million Holdings in Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK)

Fourthstone LLC lowered its position in Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,116,763 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,260 shares during the period. Meridian accounts for about 3.1% of Fourthstone LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Fourthstone LLC owned about 9.94% of Meridian worth $14,116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Separately, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Meridian by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 171,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,801,000 after buying an additional 10,514 shares during the last quarter. 58.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meridian Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of MRBK stock traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $16.73. 11,455 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,942. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $13.57 and its 200-day moving average is $11.76. The company has a market cap of $188.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.56 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Meridian Co. has a fifty-two week low of $8.26 and a fifty-two week high of $16.93.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last released 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 return on equity of 6.99% and a net margin of 6.00%. The firm had revenue of $51.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.57 million. Analysts predict that Meridian Co. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Meridian from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Meridian from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

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.