Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) Lifted to “Strong-Buy” at Baird R W

Baird R W upgraded shares of Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Friday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. CL King started coverage on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a buy rating and a $88.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler lifted 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 note on Wednesday, May 1st. Barrington Research lifted their price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Merit Medical Systems from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Merit Medical Systems currently has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $93.10.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of MMSI stock opened at $85.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.40, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.91. Merit Medical Systems has a one year low of $62.58 and a one year high of $86.44. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $80.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.65. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $323.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $315.57 million. Merit Medical Systems had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 15.02%. Merit Medical Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Merit Medical Systems will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Neil Peterson sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.85, for a total value of $613,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in Merit Medical Systems during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Merit Medical Systems during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 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.