KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys 600 Shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. $MMSI

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) by 5.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,100 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 600 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Merit Medical Systems were worth $1,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MMSI. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 2.4% during the first quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 4,616 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 55.6% during the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 375 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 3.8% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,936 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 3.1% during the first quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,065 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, CWC Advisors LLC. lifted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 2.7% during the second quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 5,892 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MMSI. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Merit Medical Systems from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Lynne N. Ward sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.56, for a total value of $265,680.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,809 shares in the company, valued at $1,134,365.04. This trade represents a 18.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Performance

Shares of MMSI stock opened at $80.56 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.43. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $78.12 and a one year high of $111.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a PE ratio of 40.89, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 2.66.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $382.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $372.47 million. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 8.31%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Merit Medical Systems 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.