MeridianLink (NYSE:MLNK) Raised to Strong-Buy at BTIG Research

Key Points

• BTIG Research has initiated coverage on MeridianLink (NYSE:MLNK) with a "buy" rating and a price target of $20.00, implying a potential upside of 25.23%.
• While BTIG is optimistic, other analysts such as Barclays and Stifel Nicolaus have set lower price targets, resulting in a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average target price of $19.50.
• MeridianLink reported a quarterly earnings miss with $0.09 EPS, falling short of the expected $0.11 EPS, but showed a revenue increase of 4.7% year-over-year to $81.49 million.

MeridianLink (NYSE:MLNK - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at BTIG Research to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $20.00 target price on the stock. BTIG Research's price target points to a potential upside of 28.37% from the company's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on MLNK. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of MeridianLink from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MeridianLink from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $19.50.

MeridianLink Trading Down 2.5%

NYSE MLNK opened at $15.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -41.00 and a beta of 0.91. MeridianLink has a fifty-two week low of $15.49 and a fifty-two week high of $25.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a current ratio of 2.22.

MeridianLink (NYSE:MLNK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $81.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.47 million. MeridianLink had a negative net margin of 9.11% and a negative return on equity of 5.14%. MeridianLink's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that MeridianLink will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MeridianLink by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,343,896 shares of the company's stock worth $61,962,000 after acquiring an additional 77,873 shares in the last quarter. Park West Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in MeridianLink by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. Park West Asset Management LLC now owns 2,599,087 shares of the company's stock worth $48,161,000 after purchasing an additional 227,969 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in MeridianLink by 27.9% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,824,395 shares of the company's stock worth $33,806,000 after purchasing an additional 397,730 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in MeridianLink by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 986,105 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,363,000 after purchasing an additional 107,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MeridianLink by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 672,526 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,890,000 after purchasing an additional 69,083 shares in the last quarter. 82.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.