Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Barrington Research reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $98.00 price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Merit Medical Systems from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Merit Medical Systems from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Merit Medical Systems from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merit Medical Systems presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $92.50.

Merit Medical Systems Price Performance

Merit Medical Systems stock opened at $74.03 on Wednesday. Merit Medical Systems has a 12 month low of $62.58 and a 12 month high of $85.62. The company has a current ratio of 5.45, a quick ratio of 3.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.69. The company has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.70, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Merit Medical Systems

In other news, Director Thomas James Gunderson sold 18,157 shares of Merit Medical Systems stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.03, for a total value of $1,380,476.71. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,257 shares in the company, valued at $1,464,109.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Thomas James Gunderson sold 18,157 shares of Merit Medical Systems stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.03, for a total value of $1,380,476.71. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,257 shares in the company, valued at $1,464,109.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Joseph Wright sold 25,000 shares of Merit Medical Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total value of $1,892,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 42,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,195,436.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,637 shares of company stock worth $3,751,673 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Merit Medical Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 114.6% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 397 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp bought a new stake in Merit Medical Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Merit Medical Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in Merit Medical Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.