Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) Stock Dropped to “Sell” by Wall Street Zen

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective (down from $24.00) on shares of Meridian in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson cut Meridian from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Meridian from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

Meridian Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ MRBK opened at $16.47 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $196.49 million, a PE ratio of 9.72 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.21. Meridian has a 52 week low of $13.92 and a 52 week high of $21.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meridian

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Meridian by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 60,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,140,000 after purchasing an additional 8,132 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in Meridian by 103.9% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in Meridian by 17.0% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 25,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 3,718 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meridian in the second quarter valued at about $660,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Meridian in the 2nd quarter worth about $13,832,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.