Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) Raised to “Overweight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) was upgraded by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $120.00 price objective on the medical instruments supplier’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $103.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target points to a potential upside of 14.56% from the stock’s current price.

MMSI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $114.00 price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America upped their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $92.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.09.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ MMSI opened at $104.75 on Wednesday. Merit Medical Systems has a fifty-two week low of $68.30 and a fifty-two week high of $108.07. The stock has a market cap of $6.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day moving average of $100.23 and a 200-day moving average of $93.05. 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 (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 company had revenue of $339.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $334.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Merit Medical Systems will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merit Medical Systems

In other news, Director F. Ann Millner sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.55, for a total value of $1,269,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 32,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,289,306.05. This represents a 27.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 29,646 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,603,705.22. The trade was 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merit Medical Systems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 43.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 559,395 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $53,433,000 after buying an additional 168,174 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Merit Medical Systems by 1.0% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 10,398 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Merit Medical Systems in the third quarter valued at about $207,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Merit Medical Systems by 13.9% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,732 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merit Medical Systems by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,357,265 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $134,165,000 after purchasing an additional 17,490 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.