The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 14,373 Shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its stake in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) by 5.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 269,549 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 14,373 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Merit Medical Systems were worth $26,640,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Merit Medical Systems by 147.2% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 634,613 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $54,545,000 after purchasing an additional 377,851 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the third quarter worth $21,156,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Merit Medical Systems by 1,343.5% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 192,109 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $18,986,000 after acquiring an additional 178,800 shares during the last quarter. F M Investments LLC bought a new position in Merit Medical Systems in the second quarter valued at about $12,550,000. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc purchased a new position in Merit Medical Systems in the third quarter worth about $11,860,000. 99.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Merit Medical Systems

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MMSI has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Merit Medical Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 3rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $110.00 price objective (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $85.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Merit Medical Systems from $92.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Three 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.36.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ MMSI opened at $103.90 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.82, a current ratio of 5.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.46 and a twelve month high of $106.87. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $99.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.66. The firm has a market cap of $6.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.89.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.36 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.