Anthony Mark Imbesi Purchases 1,000 Shares of Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) Stock

Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) Director Anthony Mark Imbesi bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $17.38 per share, with a total value of $17,380.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 386,156 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,711,391.28. This trade represents a 0.26% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Meridian Bank Price Performance

MRBK opened at $17.15 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $19.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.97. Meridian Bank has a 52 week low of $11.16 and a 52 week high of $21.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.91 million, a PE ratio of 8.29 and a beta of 0.69.

Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.09). Meridian Bank had a return on equity of 12.61% and a net margin of 11.68%.The business had revenue of $30.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.79 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meridian Bank will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Meridian Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Meridian Bank’s payout ratio is currently 27.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MRBK. Piper Sandler set a $21.00 price target on shares of Meridian Bank and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Meridian Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Meridian Bank from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Meridian Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Meridian Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meridian Bank currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meridian Bank

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fourthstone LLC lifted its position in Meridian Bank by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 1,121,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,721,000 after buying an additional 49,561 shares in the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its stake in shares of Meridian Bank by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 437,696 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,695,000 after purchasing an additional 5,100 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Meridian Bank by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 434,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,229,000 after purchasing an additional 38,719 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meridian Bank by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 213,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,747,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Meridian Bank by 99.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 171,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,712,000 after purchasing an additional 85,562 shares during the last quarter. 58.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Meridian Bank

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.