Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on 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. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $110.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $114.00 price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America upped their price target on Merit Medical Systems from $92.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Merit Medical Systems from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.36.

Merit Medical Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MMSI opened at $99.08 on Friday. Merit Medical Systems has a fifty-two week low of $65.46 and a fifty-two week high of $101.60. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 4.64 and a current ratio of 5.36. The firm has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $339.85 million during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Merit Medical Systems will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Merit Medical Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC purchased a new stake in Merit Medical Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $845,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 0.8% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 41,706 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,122,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Merit Medical Systems in the third quarter worth $580,000. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 25.5% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 10,461 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 2,127 shares during the period. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc purchased a new stake in Merit Medical Systems in the third quarter worth $11,860,000. Hedge funds and other 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.