Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Meridian from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price target (down from $24.00) on shares of Meridian in a research note on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson cut shares of Meridian from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

Meridian Trading Up 0.7%

MRBK stock opened at $16.47 on Friday. Meridian has a twelve month low of $13.92 and a twelve month high of $21.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.72 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.21.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 30th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $30.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 million. Meridian had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 11.37%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meridian will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MRBK. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meridian during the 1st quarter valued at $345,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of Meridian during the 1st quarter worth approximately $416,000. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meridian in the 2nd quarter worth $660,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Meridian by 15.5% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 60,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,140,000 after acquiring an additional 8,132 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in shares of Meridian by 103.9% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 64,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 32,739 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Company Profile

Meridian Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania. Through its principal subsidiary, Meridian Bank, the company provides commercial and community banking services to businesses, professionals and individuals in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Meridian Bank offers business lending, commercial real estate financing, construction loans, equipment financing, residential and consumer lending, deposit accounts, cash-management services and online banking. The company also provides mortgage banking and wealth management services, including investment and financial planning solutions.

Meridian was established in 2004 and serves customers through a network of banking offices in southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and surrounding markets.