Barrington Research Raises Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) Price Target to $115.00

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) had its price objective lifted by investment analysts at Barrington Research from $114.00 to $115.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the medical instruments supplier’s stock. Barrington Research’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 5.48% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Merit Medical Systems from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Merit Medical Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 3rd. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Merit Medical Systems from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merit Medical Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.60.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Merit Medical Systems stock opened at $109.03 on Wednesday. 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 has a market cap of $6.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.85. Merit Medical Systems has a one year low of $70.70 and a one year high of $109.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $101.19 and its 200-day moving average is $96.80.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 15.61% and a net margin of 9.05%. The firm had revenue of $339.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $334.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Merit Medical Systems will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Merit Medical Systems

In other Merit Medical Systems news, Director F. Ann Millner sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.55, for a total value of $1,269,375.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,289,306.05. This represents a 27.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 29,646 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.02, for a total value of $2,905,900.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 16,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,603,705.22. This represents a 64.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merit Medical Systems

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,216 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,621 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 170.7% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 26,665 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 64,401 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 36.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,043 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $949,000 after purchasing an additional 2,931 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in Merit Medical Systems in the second quarter valued at about $756,000. 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.