MeridianLink (NYSE:MLNK) Sees Strong Trading Volume Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of MeridianLink, Inc. (NYSE:MLNK) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $16.00 to $20.00. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Approximately 1,478,344 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 280% from the previous session’s volume of 389,130 shares.The stock last traded at $19.77 and had previously closed at $19.78.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on MLNK. Raymond James Financial downgraded MeridianLink from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BTIG Research lowered MeridianLink from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. William Blair lowered MeridianLink from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on MeridianLink from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MeridianLink has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.07.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MeridianLink

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in MeridianLink by 32.0% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in MeridianLink by 1,606.0% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 4,256 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in MeridianLink by 39.1% during the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 9,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in MeridianLink during the first quarter valued at $194,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC bought a new stake in MeridianLink during the fourth quarter valued at $201,000. Institutional investors own 82.65% of the company’s stock.

MeridianLink Stock Up 0.2%

The company has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a P/E ratio of -68.31 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50 day moving average of $16.68 and a 200-day moving average of $17.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.22.

MeridianLink (NYSE:MLNK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.13). MeridianLink had a negative net margin of 6.90% and a negative return on equity of 4.50%. The business had revenue of $84.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.04 EPS. MeridianLink’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that MeridianLink, Inc. will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current year.

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.