Medallion Financial (NASDAQ:MFIN) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Medallion Financial (NASDAQ:MFIN) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning.

Separately, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Medallion Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st.

Medallion Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MFIN opened at $10.44 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $9.69 and its 200 day moving average is $9.12. Medallion Financial has a fifty-two week low of $7.39 and a fifty-two week high of $10.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $242.73 million, a PE ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.20.

Medallion Financial (NASDAQ:MFIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.16. Medallion Financial had a return on equity of 9.04% and a net margin of 12.62%. The company had revenue of $53.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.07 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Medallion Financial will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Medallion Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Medallion Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 27.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Medallion Financial

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MFIN. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Medallion Financial by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 419,217 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,937,000 after acquiring an additional 2,261 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in Medallion Financial by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 11,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 2,256 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Medallion Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $150,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in Medallion Financial by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 30,247 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 4,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC bought a new position in Medallion Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $112,000. Institutional investors own 40.56% of the company’s stock.

Medallion Financial Company Profile

Medallion Financial Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty finance company in the United States. It operates in four segments: Recreation Lending, Home Improvement Lending, Commercial Lending, and Taxi Medallion Lending. The company offers loans that finance consumer purchases of recreational vehicles, boats, and other consumer recreational equipment; consumer financing for window, siding, and roof replacement, swimming pool installations, and other home improvement projects; senior and subordinated loans for the purchase of equipment and related assets necessary to open a new business, or purchase or improvement of an existing business; and taxi medallion loans to individuals and small to mid-size businesses.