Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 1,863 Shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) by 17.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,840 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 1,863 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merit Medical Systems were worth $671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Merit Medical Systems by 15.4% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,895,695 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $268,881,000 after acquiring an additional 520,423 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Merit Medical Systems by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,151,938 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $163,461,000 after acquiring an additional 11,995 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Merit Medical Systems by 1.2% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,388,905 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $95,862,000 after acquiring an additional 16,488 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Merit Medical Systems by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,306,702 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $99,258,000 after acquiring an additional 41,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in Merit Medical Systems by 25.9% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,031,173 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $71,172,000 after buying an additional 212,256 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. CL King assumed coverage on Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised Merit Medical Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Raymond James boosted their price target on Merit Medical Systems from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Barrington Research upped their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merit Medical Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merit Medical Systems news, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 6,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total transaction of $479,196.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,007 shares in the company, valued at $887,917.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Merit Medical Systems news, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 6,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total transaction of $479,196.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,007 shares in the company, valued at $887,917.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas James Gunderson sold 18,157 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 19,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,464,109.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,637 shares of company stock worth $3,751,673 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Merit Medical Systems Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MMSI opened at $82.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.91. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.58 and a 1 year high of $85.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 6.03 and a quick ratio of 4.38. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.42.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $323.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $315.57 million. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 15.02% and a net margin of 7.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal 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.