Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reaffirms Market Perform Rating for Middlefield Banc (NASDAQ:MBCN)

Middlefield Banc (NASDAQ:MBCN)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating restated by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $35.00 target price on the bank’s stock, up from their previous target price of $32.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.37% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Middlefield Banc from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Middlefield Banc in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Middlefield Banc has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.00.

Middlefield Banc Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ MBCN opened at $34.19 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $276.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.10 and a beta of 0.46. Middlefield Banc has a 12-month low of $22.74 and a 12-month high of $34.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.15.

Middlefield Banc (NASDAQ:MBCN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $19.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.57 million. Middlefield Banc had a return on equity of 9.91% and a net margin of 18.39%. Equities research analysts expect that Middlefield Banc will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Middlefield Banc by 3.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,863 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Middlefield Banc by 1.5% during the second quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 48,603 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey boosted its position in Middlefield Banc by 107.2% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 2,047 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Middlefield Banc by 5.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,437 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Middlefield Banc by 9.1% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 26,525 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,216 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.72% of the company’s stock.

Middlefield Banc Company Profile

Middlefield Banc Corp. operates as the bank holding company for The Middlefield Banking Company that provides various commercial banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, small business owners, and retail customers in northeastern and central Ohio. It offers checking, savings, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, money market accounts, time certificates of deposit, commercial loans, real estate loans, various consumer loans, safe deposit facilities, and travelers' checks.