Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Acquires 12,984 Shares of Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 210,758 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,984 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Meridian were worth $2,889,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Truffle Hound Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Meridian in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,742,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Meridian by 122.9% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 44,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $613,000 after acquiring an additional 24,648 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Meridian by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 40,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $511,000 after acquiring an additional 3,675 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Meridian by 265.1% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 36,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $507,000 after acquiring an additional 26,835 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Meridian in the 4th quarter valued at about $139,000. Institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Stock Performance

NASDAQ MRBK opened at $14.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $13.70 and a 200-day moving average of $14.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market cap of $160.36 million, a PE ratio of 9.80 and a beta of 0.71. Meridian Co. has a 52-week low of $9.10 and a 52-week high of $17.33.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $27.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.93 million. Meridian had a return on equity of 10.01% and a net margin of 8.28%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meridian Co. will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meridian news, Director Robert M. Casciato acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.79 per share, for a total transaction of $27,580.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 215,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,970,310.84. This trade represents a 0.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 14.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRBK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Meridian from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Meridian from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 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.