Short Interest in Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) Increases By 227.4%

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 51,400 shares, a growth of 227.4% from the February 13th total of 15,700 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 49,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meridian

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MRBK. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Meridian during the 3rd quarter worth $128,000. Banc Funds Co. LLC lifted its stake in Meridian by 4.7% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Meridian by 10.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 40,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 3,675 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Meridian during the 4th quarter valued at about $139,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Stock Performance

Meridian stock opened at $13.90 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.30. 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 has a 1-year low of $8.26 and a 1-year high of $17.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.24 million, a PE ratio of 9.59 and a beta of 0.87.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.14. Meridian had a return on equity of 10.01% and a net margin of 8.28%. As a group, analysts expect that Meridian will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. Meridian’s payout ratio is presently 34.48%.

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.