Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) Lifted to “Buy” at StockNews.com

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

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Barrington Research increased their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $112.00 to $102.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $93.10.

Merit Medical Systems Trading Up 3.0 %

MMSI opened at $85.95 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.61. Merit Medical Systems has a fifty-two week low of $62.58 and a fifty-two week high of $86.44. The company has a market cap 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. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $323.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.57 million. Merit Medical Systems had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 15.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merit Medical Systems will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Merit Medical Systems news, COO Neil Peterson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.85, for a total transaction of $613,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 14,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,212,935.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merit Medical Systems

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merit Medical Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 114.6% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 397 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the first quarter valued at about $50,000. 99.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.