MRBK vs. IBCP, ESQ, VEL, MCB, SMBC, YRD, FSBC, ORRF, SPFI, and QD
Should you be buying Meridian stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Meridian include Independent Bank (IBCP), Esquire Financial (ESQ), Velocity Financial (VEL), Metropolitan Bank (MCB), Southern Missouri Bancorp (SMBC), Yiren Digital (YRD), Five Star Bancorp (FSBC), Orrstown Financial Services (ORRF), South Plains Financial (SPFI), and Qudian (QD). These companies are all part of the "banking" industry.
Meridian vs.
Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) and Independent Bank (NASDAQ:IBCP) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, risk, community ranking, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.
Meridian currently has a consensus target price of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 26.28%. Independent Bank has a consensus target price of $39.17, suggesting a potential upside of 37.14%. Given Independent Bank's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Independent Bank is more favorable than Meridian.
In the previous week, Independent Bank had 1 more articles in the media than Meridian. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Independent Bank and 2 mentions for Meridian. Meridian's average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat Independent Bank's score of 0.85 indicating that Meridian is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Independent Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Meridian. Meridian is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Independent Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Independent Bank has a net margin of 20.67% compared to Meridian's net margin of 8.28%. Independent Bank's return on equity of 15.43% beat Meridian's return on equity.
Meridian pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Independent Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Meridian pays out 34.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Independent Bank pays out 32.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Independent Bank has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years.
58.6% of Meridian shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.4% of Independent Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 14.0% of Meridian shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Independent Bank shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Meridian has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Independent Bank has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Independent Bank received 91 more outperform votes than Meridian when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 57.76% of users gave Meridian an outperform vote while only 54.35% of users gave Independent Bank an outperform vote.
Summary
Independent Bank beats Meridian on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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This page (NASDAQ:MRBK) was last updated on 4/9/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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