Barclays PLC Grows Stock Holdings in Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK)

Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) by 10.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,406 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,675 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Meridian were worth $511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Meridian in the third quarter valued at approximately $128,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 10,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banc Funds Co. LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of Meridian stock opened at $13.96 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $14.82 and its 200-day moving average is $12.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.91 million, a PE ratio of 13.82 and a beta of 0.78. Meridian Co. has a 12-month low of $8.26 and a 12-month high of $17.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.57 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Meridian Co. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. Meridian’s payout ratio is 49.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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