Meridian Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:EBSB) has been given a consensus broker rating score of 3.00 (Hold) from the one analysts that cover the company, Zacks Investment Research reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating.
Analysts have set a 12-month consensus price target of $18.00 for the company and are expecting that the company will post $0.28 EPS for the current quarter, according to Zacks. Zacks has also given Meridian Bancorp an industry rank of 64 out of 255 based on the ratings given to related companies.
Get Meridian Bancorp alerts:EBSB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Meridian Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 11th. BidaskClub upgraded Meridian Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 25th. Finally, Hovde Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Meridian Bancorp in a report on Monday, January 28th.
In other Meridian Bancorp news, EVP Edward J. Merritt sold 2,800 shares of Meridian Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.80, for a total value of $44,240.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gregory F. Natalucci sold 7,000 shares of Meridian Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.76, for a total value of $110,320.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meridian Bancorp by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 605,146 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $8,665,000 after purchasing an additional 41,783 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Meridian Bancorp by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,957,866 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $42,357,000 after purchasing an additional 194,621 shares during the period. Context BH Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Meridian Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $244,000. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Meridian Bancorp by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,597 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares during the period. Finally, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY raised its stake in shares of Meridian Bancorp by 346.1% in the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY now owns 16,496 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 12,798 shares during the period. 64.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
EBSB traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $15.66. The stock had a trading volume of 88,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 148,543. Meridian Bancorp has a 52 week low of $13.67 and a 52 week high of $20.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $896.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.77 and a beta of 0.50.
Meridian Bancorp (NASDAQ:EBSB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.05). Meridian Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.37% and a net margin of 23.56%. The company had revenue of $42.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.20 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meridian Bancorp will post 1.2 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. Meridian Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.42%.
About Meridian Bancorp
Meridian Bancorp, Inc operates as the holding company for East Boston Savings Bank that provides various financial products and services for individuals and businesses primarily in Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, and Suffolk Counties, Massachusetts. The company accepts various deposit products, including non-interest-bearing demand deposits, such as checking accounts; interest-bearing demand accounts comprising NOW and money market accounts; savings accounts; and certificates of deposits, as well as commercial checking accounts.
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