Corebridge Financial Inc. Lowers Holdings in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI)

Corebridge Financial Inc. lowered its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,507 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 2,380 shares during the quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc.’s holdings in Merit Medical Systems were worth $2,951,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Merit Medical Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 237.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 977 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Merit Medical Systems by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,494 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $144,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in Merit Medical Systems by 13.9% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,732 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $171,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $128.00 to $127.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $116.00 target price (up from $114.00) on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Friday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Raymond James raised their price objective on Merit Medical Systems from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $122.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Merit Medical Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.70.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ MMSI opened at $105.71 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.82, a current ratio of 5.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.70 and a fifty-two week high of $111.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $104.36 and a 200-day moving average of $101.13. The stock has a market cap of $6.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stephen C. Evans sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.31, for a total transaction of $526,550.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $490,428.67. This trade represents a 51.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Fred P. Lampropoulos sold 31,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.86, for a total value of $3,252,895.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $112,794,868.08. This trade represents a 2.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 109,132 shares of company stock worth $11,139,521. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.