Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 28,900 Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 28,900 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $2,195,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 53.8% in the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. 99.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on MMSI shares. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $98.00 price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Merit Medical Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, CL King assumed coverage on Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.50.

Insider Transactions at Merit Medical Systems

In other news, Director F. Ann Millner sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $1,600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 29,960 shares in the company, valued at $2,396,800. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director F. Ann Millner sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $1,600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 29,960 shares in the company, valued at $2,396,800. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 6,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total value of $479,196.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 12,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $887,917.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,637 shares of company stock worth $5,351,673 over the last quarter. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Down 1.7 %

Merit Medical Systems stock opened at $71.51 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 3.95 and a current ratio of 5.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.49. The company has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a PE ratio of 44.14, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.89. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.58 and a fifty-two week high of $85.62.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $324.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $320.66 million. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 7.51%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

About Merit Medical Systems

Merit Medical Systems, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and markets single-use medical products for interventional, diagnostic, and therapeutic procedures in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Cardiovascular and Endoscopy. The company provides micropuncture kits, angiographic needles, sheaths, guide wires, and safety products; peripheral intervention, including angiography, drainage, delivery systems, and embolotherapy products; spine products, such as vertebral augmentation, radiofrequency ablation, and bone biopsy systems; oncology products; and cardiac intervention products, such as access, angiography, electrophysiology and cardiac rhythm management, fluid management, hemodynamic monitoring, hemostasis, and intervention to treat various heart conditions.