LSV Asset Management Trims Stock Position in Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK)

LSV Asset Management lessened its holdings in Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 91,356 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,466 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management owned 0.82% of Meridian worth $961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meridian in the fourth quarter valued at about $476,000. Strid Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meridian during the first quarter valued at approximately $431,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meridian by 4.6% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 54,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $538,000 after buying an additional 2,396 shares during the period. Finally, Banc Funds Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meridian by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 782,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,879,000 after buying an additional 53,990 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Stock Performance

Shares of MRBK opened at $11.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $123.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.21. Meridian Co. has a 1 year low of $8.26 and a 1 year high of $14.24.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.02). Meridian had a net margin of 5.85% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The firm had revenue of $26.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.57 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meridian Co. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 19th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Meridian from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th.

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.