Meridian (MRBK) Competitors

Meridian (NASDAQ:MRBK) and Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, community ranking, risk, media sentiment, profitability, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in MRBK or MCB?

58.6% of Meridian shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.8% of Metropolitan Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 14.0% of Meridian shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.5% of Metropolitan Bank shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, MRBK or MCB?

Metropolitan Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Meridian. Metropolitan Bank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Meridian, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Meridian	$168.55M	1.11	$13.24M	$1.01	16.45
Metropolitan Bank	$403.31M	1.78	$76.90M	$5.32	12.05

Do analysts prefer MRBK or MCB?

Meridian presently has a consensus target price of $16.00, indicating a potential downside of 3.67%. Metropolitan Bank has a consensus target price of $78.13, indicating a potential upside of 21.86%. Given Metropolitan Bank's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Metropolitan Bank is more favorable than Meridian.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Meridian	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Metropolitan Bank	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MRBK or MCB?

Metropolitan Bank received 55 more outperform votes than Meridian when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.48% of users gave Metropolitan Bank an outperform vote while only 57.76% of users gave Meridian an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Meridian	Outperform Votes 134 57.76%	Underperform Votes 98 42.24%
Metropolitan Bank	Outperform Votes 189 68.48%	Underperform Votes 87 31.52%

Is MRBK or MCB more profitable?

Metropolitan Bank has a net margin of 12.47% compared to Meridian's net margin of 6.00%. Metropolitan Bank's return on equity of 10.02% beat Meridian's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Meridian	6.00%	6.99%	0.49%
Metropolitan Bank	12.47%	10.02%	0.94%

Which has more volatility and risk, MRBK or MCB?

Meridian has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Metropolitan Bank has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor MRBK or MCB?

In the previous week, Meridian had 3 more articles in the media than Metropolitan Bank. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Meridian and 8 mentions for Metropolitan Bank. Metropolitan Bank's average media sentiment score of 0.86 beat Meridian's score of 0.61 indicating that Metropolitan Bank is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Meridian	0 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Metropolitan Bank	2 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Metropolitan Bank beats Meridian on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.