Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Piper Sandler

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by analysts at Piper Sandler in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $110.00 target price on the medical instruments supplier’s stock, up from their previous target price of $106.00. Piper Sandler’s target price indicates a potential upside of 15.33% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on MMSI. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $108.00 price target (up from $106.00) on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $116.00 to $108.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $112.00 target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Barrington Research decreased their price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $111.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merit Medical Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.11.

Merit Medical Systems Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Merit Medical Systems stock opened at $95.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.36, a quick ratio of 3.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $100.48. Merit Medical Systems has a 12-month low of $80.02 and a 12-month high of $111.45. The company has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.70.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.11. Merit Medical Systems had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 15.61%. The firm had revenue of $355.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $352.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merit Medical Systems will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director F. Ann Millner sold 21,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.47, for a total value of $2,049,987.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,332,363.21. This represents a 38.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 12,451 shares of Merit Medical Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.81, for a total value of $1,230,283.31. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,391,300.81. This represents a 33.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 130,382 shares of company stock worth $13,189,508 in the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Merit Medical Systems

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 305.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,727 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $11,142,000 after purchasing an additional 84,923 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 4,812 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $465,000 after buying an additional 821 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 4th quarter worth $200,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 18,314 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,771,000 after buying an additional 751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,265 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $219,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.66% of the company’s stock.

Merit Medical Systems Company Profile

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.