Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) Earns Outperform Rating from Barrington Research

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by investment analysts at Barrington Research in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $98.00 target price on the medical instruments supplier’s stock. Barrington Research’s price target indicates a potential upside of 37.04% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. CL King assumed coverage on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $88.00 target price for the company. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Merit Medical Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.50.

Merit Medical Systems Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ MMSI opened at $71.51 on Tuesday. Merit Medical Systems has a 1 year low of $62.58 and a 1 year high of $85.62. The stock has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $75.41 and a 200 day moving average of $73.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 5.45 and a quick ratio of 3.95.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $324.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $320.66 million. Merit Medical Systems had a net margin of 7.51% and a return on equity of 14.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merit Medical Systems will post 3.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merit Medical Systems news, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 6,480 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total transaction of $479,196.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $887,917.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Merit Medical Systems news, Director F. Ann Millner sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $1,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,396,800. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 6,480 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total transaction of $479,196.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 12,007 shares in the company, valued at $887,917.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,637 shares of company stock worth $5,351,673 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 26.1% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 136,214 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $9,061,000 after buying an additional 28,233 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 9,016 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $600,000 after buying an additional 1,369 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 49,073 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,265,000 after buying an additional 3,685 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 55.0% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 28,593 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,902,000 after buying an additional 10,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 132,266 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $8,798,000 after buying an additional 5,501 shares in the last quarter. 99.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.