Meridian Corp (NASDAQ:MRBK) Shares Set to Pay Quarterly Dividend of $0.14

Meridian Corp (NASDAQ:MRBK) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 9th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share on Monday, November 16th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 9th.

Meridian has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.3% annually over the last three years. Meridian has a payout ratio of 26.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Meridian to earn $2.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.7%.

Meridian Price Performance

Shares of MRBK opened at $16.47 on Friday. Meridian has a 1-year low of $13.92 and a 1-year high of $21.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $18.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.21. The stock has a market cap of $196.49 million, a PE ratio of 8.62 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MRBK. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price target (down from $24.00) on shares of Meridian in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Meridian from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Meridian from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered Meridian from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

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.