Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eleven analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $105.60.

MMSI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price target on Merit Medical Systems from $92.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Merit Medical Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Merit Medical Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $103.00 to $120.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Merit Medical Systems from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Merit Medical Systems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 43.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 559,395 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $53,433,000 after acquiring an additional 168,174 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in Merit Medical Systems by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 10,398 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merit Medical Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $207,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 13.9% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,732 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $171,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,357,265 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $134,165,000 after buying an additional 17,490 shares during the last quarter. 99.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Performance

Shares of MMSI stock opened at $98.22 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $100.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.94. Merit Medical Systems has a one year low of $70.70 and a one year high of $108.07. The stock has a market cap of $5.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 5.36 and a quick ratio of 3.82.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $339.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $334.60 million. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 15.61% and a net margin of 9.05%. Merit Medical Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Merit Medical Systems will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

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.