Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Barrington Research

Barrington Research reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $98.00 target price on the medical instruments supplier’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Merit Medical Systems from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. CL King initiated coverage on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a buy rating and a $88.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $92.50.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Performance

MMSI opened at $72.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 5.45 and a quick ratio of 3.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $75.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.50. Merit Medical Systems has a 1 year low of $62.58 and a 1 year high of $85.62. The stock has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $324.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $320.66 million. Merit Medical Systems had a net margin of 7.51% and a return on equity of 14.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merit Medical Systems will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Merit Medical Systems

In related news, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 6,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total value of $479,196.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 12,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $887,917.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 6,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total value of $479,196.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 12,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $887,917.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas James Gunderson sold 18,157 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.03, for a total transaction of $1,380,476.71. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,464,109.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 69,637 shares of company stock valued at $5,351,673. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 69.3% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 103,099 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $7,116,000 after buying an additional 42,191 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 26.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 607,881 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $41,956,000 after buying an additional 125,605 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 161.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 141,938 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $9,797,000 after buying an additional 87,711 shares during the last quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 18.0% in the third quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 97,874 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $6,755,000 after buying an additional 14,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC lifted its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 352.9% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 31,813 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,196,000 after purchasing an additional 24,788 shares in the last quarter. 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.