Guidance Capital Inc. Invests $403,000 in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI)

Guidance Capital Inc. bought a new position in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,601 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $403,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MMSI. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Merit Medical Systems in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Merit Medical Systems by 114.6% in 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 position in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $96,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 60.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $161,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares during the last quarter. 99.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MMSI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Merit Medical Systems from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Merit Medical Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. CL King assumed coverage on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merit Medical Systems currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.10.

Merit Medical Systems Trading Up 3.0 %

MMSI traded up $2.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $85.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,366,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 327,214. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.91. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $62.58 and a 1-year high of $86.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 6.03 and a quick ratio of 4.38.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Merit Medical Systems

In related news, COO Neil Peterson sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.85, for a total value of $613,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,212,935.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.