Merchants Bancorp price target lowered to $34 from $40 at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley analyst Manan Gosalia lowered the firm’s price target on Merchants Bancorp (MBIN) to $34 from $40 and keeps an Equal Weight rating on the shares. Q2 operating EPS of 60c missed the firm’s and consensus estimates as significantly higher loan losses “overshadowed a stronger quarter on fees and loans,” the analyst tells investors. The firm expects the stock will remain under pressure until investors have more clarity that a bulk of the losses related to mortgage fraud are behind Merchants.