Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) Given New $85.00 Price Target at Needham & Company LLC

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) had its price objective reduced by Needham & Company LLC from $88.00 to $85.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the medical instruments supplier’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Raymond James increased their price target on Merit Medical Systems from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Merit Medical Systems from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $98.00 target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $92.78.

Merit Medical Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ MMSI opened at $78.97 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.39, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 6.03 and a quick ratio of 3.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $74.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.15. Merit Medical Systems has a 1 year low of $62.58 and a 1 year high of $85.62.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.06. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 15.02% and a net margin of 7.94%. The business had revenue of $323.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merit Medical Systems will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Merit Medical Systems news, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 6,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total value of $479,196.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $887,917.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Merit Medical Systems news, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 6,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total transaction of $479,196.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,007 shares in the company, valued at $887,917.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph Wright sold 25,000 shares of Merit Medical Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total transaction of $1,892,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,195,436.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,637 shares of company stock valued at $3,751,673. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merit Medical Systems

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MMSI. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,895,695 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $268,881,000 after purchasing an additional 520,423 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 4,411.3% during the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 518,485 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $39,275,000 after acquiring an additional 506,992 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Merit Medical Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,165,000. abrdn plc acquired a new stake in Merit Medical Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,446,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 818.6% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 278,452 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $21,151,000 after purchasing an additional 248,140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.66% of the company’s stock.

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.