Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) Reaches New 12-Month High at $88.85

Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $88.85 and last traded at $88.23, with a volume of 48194 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $87.06.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Merit Medical Systems from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com lowered Merit Medical Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Friday, June 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $96.00 price objective on the stock. CL King initiated coverage on Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Merit Medical Systems from $102.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merit Medical Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.20.

Merit Medical Systems Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 4.38 and a current ratio of 6.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $83.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.66.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.06. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 15.02% and a net margin of 7.94%. The business had revenue of $323.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.57 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Neil Peterson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.85, for a total transaction of $613,875.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 14,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,212,935.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, COO Neil Peterson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.85, for a total transaction of $613,875.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 14,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,212,935.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director F. Ann Millner sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total value of $1,062,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 32,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,753,235. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Merit Medical Systems

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 1st quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 2,666.7% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 913 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. 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.