Bridgewater Associates LP Has $947,000 Stock Holdings in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI)

Bridgewater Associates LP cut its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) by 80.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,587 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 38,678 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Merit Medical Systems were worth $947,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new position in Merit Medical Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $718,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 3.2% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 221,690 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $21,910,000 after buying an additional 6,837 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 10.8% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 66,535 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $5,719,000 after buying an additional 6,487 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 3.1% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 129,024 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $11,090,000 after buying an additional 3,933 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 32.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,056 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. 99.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on MMSI shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Merit Medical Systems from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com lowered Merit Medical Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 3rd. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $114.00 target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $85.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merit Medical Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.36.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director F. Ann Millner sold 12,500 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 32,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,289,306.05. This represents a 27.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 29,646 shares of Merit Medical Systems stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 16,361 shares in the company, valued at $1,603,705.22. This trade represents a 64.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Merit Medical Systems Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MMSI opened at $103.90 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.89. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.46 and a 1 year high of $106.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 5.36 and a quick ratio of 3.82. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.78.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $339.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $334.60 million. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 15.61% and a net margin of 9.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.