Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) Shares Sold by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. cut its stake in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) by 15.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 298,262 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 55,495 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Merit Medical Systems were worth $28,848,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MMSI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,648,659 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $643,058,000 after acquiring an additional 63,314 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,076,439 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $200,833,000 after purchasing an additional 499,193 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Merit Medical Systems by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,633,246 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $157,968,000 after purchasing an additional 36,489 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,535,468 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $148,510,000 after purchasing an additional 118,142 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 750,936 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $72,631,000 after buying an additional 85,483 shares during the last quarter. 99.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MMSI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Merit Medical Systems from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on Merit Medical Systems from $127.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $106.00 price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Barrington Research reduced their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $111.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $111.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.78.

Insider Activity

In other Merit Medical Systems news, insider Brian G. Lloyd sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.50, for a total transaction of $2,487,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,879,803.50. The trade was a 39.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 12,451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.81, for a total transaction of $1,230,283.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 24,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,391,300.81. The trade was a 33.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 109,132 shares of company stock valued at $11,139,521 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Performance

Shares of MMSI opened at $95.83 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $97.00 and its 200-day moving average is $100.51. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $80.02 and a 12-month high of $111.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.70.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.11. Merit Medical Systems had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 15.61%. The firm had revenue of $355.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $352.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merit Medical Systems 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.