Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) vs. Town and Country Financial (OTCMKTS:TWCF) Critical Survey

Town and Country Financial (OTCMKTS:TWCF) and Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Town and Country Financial and Meridian Bank, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Town and Country Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
Meridian Bank	0	0	3	0	3.00

Meridian Bank has a consensus price target of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.17%. Given Meridian Bank’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Meridian Bank is more favorable than Town and Country Financial.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Town and Country Financial and Meridian Bank”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Town and Country Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Meridian Bank	$205.49 million	1.09	$21.84 million	$1.89	10.29

Meridian Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Town and Country Financial.

Profitability

This table compares Town and Country Financial and Meridian Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Town and Country Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A
Meridian Bank	10.63%	12.14%	0.86%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

58.6% of Meridian Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 14.4% of Meridian Bank shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Meridian Bank beats Town and Country Financial on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Town and Country Financial

Town & Country Financial Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and financial services. It offers loans, investments, deposits, and cash management operations. Its has offices in Buffalo, Decatur, Edwardsville, Fairview Heights, Jacksonville, Lincoln, Mt. Zion, Springfield, and Quincy. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Springfield, IL.

About Meridian Bank

Meridian Corporation operates as the holding company for Meridian Bank that provides commercial banking products and services in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Florida, and Maryland. The company offers various deposit products, such as demand non-interest bearing, demand interest bearing, savings accounts, money market accounts, and time deposits. It also provides commercial and industrial loans comprising business lines of credit, term loans, small business lending, lease financing, shared national credits, and other financing; commercial real estate, and land development and construction loans for residential and commercial projects; and consumer and home equity lending, private banking, merchant, and title and land settlement services. In addition, the company operates and originates mortgage loans for 1-4 family dwellings; and offers real estate holding, investment advisory, and equipment leasing services, as well as financial planning and wealth management services. Meridian Corporation was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania.