MeridianLink (NYSE:MLNK) Stock Rating Lowered by Bank of America

MeridianLink (NYSE:MLNK) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $18.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $28.00. Bank of America‘s price target would suggest a potential downside of 6.52% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of MeridianLink from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $22.50 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Raymond James increased their price objective on MeridianLink from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MeridianLink currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.08.

MeridianLink Price Performance

Shares of MeridianLink stock opened at $19.26 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.86. MeridianLink has a one year low of $16.49 and a one year high of $25.33. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.74 and a beta of 1.02.

MeridianLink (NYSE:MLNK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $80.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.54 million. MeridianLink had a negative return on equity of 9.57% and a negative net margin of 16.57%. Analysts forecast that MeridianLink will post -0.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Timothy Nguyen sold 5,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.01, for a total transaction of $130,374.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,619,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $244,346,089.26. The trade was a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nicolaas Vlok sold 71,598 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.17, for a total transaction of $1,515,729.66. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,043,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,088,396.94. This represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 286,488 shares of company stock valued at $6,525,738 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 21.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MeridianLink

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MLNK. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in MeridianLink in the third quarter worth about $231,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in MeridianLink in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $336,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in MeridianLink by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 16,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,490 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MeridianLink by 46.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 18,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $404,000 after purchasing an additional 5,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of MeridianLink by 5.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.65% of the company’s stock.

MeridianLink Company Profile

MeridianLink, Inc, a software and services company, provides software solutions for banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, specialty lending providers, and consumer reporting agencies in the United States. The company offers MeridianLink One, a multi-product platform that can be tailored to meet the needs of customers as they digitally transform their organizations and adapt to changing business and consumer demands; MeridianLink Portal, a Point of Sale system that allows financial institutions to expand existing lending and deposit account; MeridianLink Opening, a cloud-based online account opening and deposit software solution; MeridianLink Consumer, a full loan solution suite to banks and credit unions; and MeridianLink DecisionLender, a loan origination software (LOS) for finance companies.