Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Buys 44,332 Shares of Meridian Bank $MRBK

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meridian Bank by 114.1% in Q1, acquiring an additional 44,332 shares for a total of 83,179 shares valued at approximately $1.2 million.
• DA Davidson raised the price target for Meridian Bank from $17.00 to $19.00 and assigned a "buy" rating, indicating positive sentiment among analysts.
• Meridian Bank recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.125 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 3.1% and reflecting a payout ratio of 31.06%.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK - Free Report) by 114.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 83,179 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 44,332 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.74% of Meridian Bank worth $1,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRBK. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meridian Bank in the 1st quarter worth about $209,000. Citadel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meridian Bank by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 18,347 shares of the company's stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 4,129 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Meridian Bank by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,452 shares of the company's stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 2,609 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new stake in shares of Meridian Bank during the 1st quarter valued at about $276,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meridian Bank during the 1st quarter valued at about $310,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.56% of the company's stock.

Meridian Bank Trading Down 0.6%

Meridian Bank stock traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $15.87. The stock had a trading volume of 64,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 80,911. The stock has a market cap of $179.33 million, a PE ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 0.75. Meridian Bank has a 52 week low of $11.16 and a 52 week high of $17.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.02.

Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.07. Meridian Bank had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The company had revenue of $32.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.65 million. Analysts forecast that Meridian Bank will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Meridian Bank's payout ratio is presently 31.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, DA Davidson increased their price objective on Meridian Bank from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $17.50.

Meridian Bank 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.