Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) Short Interest Update

Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 42,500 shares, a drop of 17.3% from the February 28th total of 51,400 shares. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 54,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Meridian

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Truffle Hound Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meridian in the 4th quarter worth $2,742,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Meridian by 410.2% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 52,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $716,000 after acquiring an additional 42,004 shares during the last quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC raised its holdings 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 during the period. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp lifted its stake in shares of Meridian by 161.4% in the 4th quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 48,587 shares of the company’s stock valued at $666,000 after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meridian during the 4th quarter worth about $395,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Price Performance

Meridian stock traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $14.30. The stock had a trading volume of 71,170 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,804. Meridian has a 1-year low of $8.26 and a 1-year high of $17.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $15.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 predict that Meridian will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.48%.

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.