Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) Given New $115.00 Price Target at Barrington Research

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) had its price target raised by Barrington Research from $114.00 to $115.00 in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Barrington Research currently has an outperform rating on the medical instruments supplier’s stock.

MMSI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Merit Medical Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $103.00 to $120.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Merit Medical Systems from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Merit Medical Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merit Medical Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.80.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ MMSI opened at $108.48 on Wednesday. Merit Medical Systems has a 12-month low of $70.70 and a 12-month high of $110.61. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $101.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a PE ratio of 53.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 5.36, a quick ratio of 3.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 15.61% and a net margin of 9.05%. The company had revenue of $339.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $334.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Merit Medical Systems will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merit Medical Systems

In related news, Director F. Ann Millner sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.55, for a total transaction of $1,269,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,391 shares in the company, valued at $3,289,306.05. The trade was a 27.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 29,646 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.02, for a total transaction of $2,905,900.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,603,705.22. The trade was a 64.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merit Medical Systems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MMSI. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Merit Medical Systems by 305.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,727 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $11,142,000 after acquiring an additional 84,923 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in Merit Medical Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $718,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 221,690 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $21,910,000 after purchasing an additional 6,837 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 85.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 575,946 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $56,921,000 after purchasing an additional 265,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMI Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 28.7% in the 4th quarter. AMI Asset Management Corp now owns 33,041 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,196,000 after purchasing an additional 7,367 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.66% of the company’s stock.

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.