Truffle Hound Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 200,000 Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK)

Truffle Hound Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Meridian Co. (NASDAQ:MRBK) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 200,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,742,000. Meridian accounts for approximately 1.0% of Truffle Hound Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meridian by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 93,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,838 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 3,675 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Meridian in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $128,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Meridian in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $139,000. Finally, Banc Funds Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meridian by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 829,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,480,000 after acquiring an additional 37,450 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.56% of the company’s stock.

Meridian Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MRBK opened at $13.96 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Meridian Co. has a 12 month low of $8.26 and a 12 month high of $17.33.

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.14. Meridian had a return on equity of 10.01% and a net margin of 8.28%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meridian Co. will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meridian Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Meridian’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.48%.

Meridian 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.