Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) Short Interest Down 26.8% in February

Key Points

• Short interest down 26.8% in February to 105,253 shares (about 1.1% of shares outstanding), with a days-to-cover ratio of roughly 1.5 days.
• Research firms maintain a consensus Buy rating and a $22.00 consensus target after Piper Sandler and DA Davidson raised their targets to $22.00.
• Meridian beat quarterly estimates (EPS $0.61 vs. $0.55; revenue $34.44M vs. $32.41M), trades around $18.66 with a market cap near $215M, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.14 (≈3.0% yield).

Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 105,253 shares, a decline of 26.8% from the February 12th total of 143,819 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 68,631 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 68,631 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MRBK. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $22.00 target price (up from $20.00) on shares of Meridian Bank in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Meridian Bank from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Meridian Bank in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Meridian Bank Price Performance

MRBK traded up $0.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $18.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 84,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 75,748. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Meridian Bank has a twelve month low of $11.16 and a twelve month high of $21.67. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $19.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.87 and a beta of 0.76.

Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.06. Meridian Bank had a return on equity of 12.14% and a net margin of 10.63%.The business had revenue of $34.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $32.41 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meridian Bank will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This is a boost from Meridian Bank's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. Meridian Bank's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.63%.

Institutional Trading of Meridian Bank

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fourthstone LLC increased its stake in shares of Meridian Bank by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 1,121,775 shares of the company's stock worth $19,721,000 after purchasing an additional 49,561 shares in the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. lifted its stake in Meridian Bank by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 437,696 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,695,000 after buying an additional 5,100 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Meridian Bank by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 395,283 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,949,000 after buying an additional 33,357 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meridian Bank by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 213,117 shares of the company's stock worth $3,747,000 after buying an additional 1,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Meridian Bank by 99.3% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 171,765 shares of the company's stock worth $2,712,000 after buying an additional 85,562 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.56% of the company's stock.

Meridian Bank Company Profile

Meridian Bank, a Pennsylvania-chartered institution founded in 1993 and headquartered in Philadelphia, operates as a full-service community bank serving the Greater Philadelphia region. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Meridian Bancorp, Inc NASDAQ: MRBK, the bank maintains a network of branch locations complemented by online and mobile platforms to meet the evolving needs of individual and business customers.

On the consumer side, Meridian Bank offers a comprehensive suite of deposit products, including checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit, alongside personal lending solutions such as home equity lines of credit, residential mortgage loans and unsecured consumer loans.

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