MeridianLink (NYSE:MLNK) Cut to “Underperform” at Bank of America

Bank of America cut shares of MeridianLink (NYSE:MLNK) from a buy rating to an underperform rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $18.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $28.00.

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

MeridianLink Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MLNK opened at $19.26 on Thursday. MeridianLink has a 52-week low of $16.49 and a 52-week high of $25.33. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.74 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a 50 day moving average of $21.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.95.

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

Insider Activity at MeridianLink

In other news, major shareholder Timothy Nguyen sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.50, for a total transaction of $2,350,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,928,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,817,682. This represents a 0.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nicolaas Vlok sold 29,217 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.80, for a total value of $666,147.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,043,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,789,109.60. This trade represents a 2.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 286,488 shares of company stock valued at $6,525,738. Corporate insiders own 21.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MeridianLink

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in MeridianLink by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 603,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,415,000 after purchasing an additional 65,834 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in MeridianLink by 342.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 42,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $872,000 after buying an additional 32,808 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in MeridianLink by 24.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 218,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,486,000 after acquiring an additional 42,302 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in MeridianLink in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $231,000. Finally, Maven Securities LTD bought a new stake in shares of MeridianLink in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,377,000. 82.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About MeridianLink

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.