Brokerages Set Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) Target Price at $103.36

Shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $103.36.

Several research firms have commented on MMSI. Bank of America lifted their price target on Merit Medical Systems from $92.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Merit Medical Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $85.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a report on Thursday, October 31st.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Performance

Shares of MMSI opened at $105.33 on Thursday. Merit Medical Systems has a 1 year low of $65.46 and a 1 year high of $106.87. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.83. The company has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.63, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 3.82 and a current ratio of 5.36.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $339.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $334.60 million. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 15.61% and a net margin of 9.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Merit Medical Systems will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Merit Medical Systems

In related news, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 29,646 shares of Merit Medical Systems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.02, for a total transaction of $2,905,900.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,603,705.22. The trade was a 64.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director F. Ann Millner sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.55, for a total value of $1,269,375.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 32,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,289,306.05. This represents a 27.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merit Medical Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 0.3% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,053,461 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $262,445,000 after buying an additional 10,512 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,289,148 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $226,236,000 after purchasing an additional 38,780 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,231,701 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $220,559,000 after purchasing an additional 15,098 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 70.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,577,246 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $155,879,000 after purchasing an additional 649,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,357,265 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $134,165,000 after purchasing an additional 17,490 shares during the last quarter. 99.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merit Medical Systems Company Profile

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.