Tudor Investment Corp ET AL Boosts Stock Position in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI)

Tudor Investment Corp ET AL lifted its holdings in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) by 21.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 146,667 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,645 shares during the quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL’s holdings in Merit Medical Systems were worth $14,186,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in Merit Medical Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 139.1% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 655 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 237.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,494 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. 99.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MMSI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barrington Research lowered their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $111.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective 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. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $116.00 to $108.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $116.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $116.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 12,451 shares of Merit Medical Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.81, for a total value of $1,230,283.31. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian G. Lloyd sold 30,000 shares of Merit Medical Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.90, for a total value of $3,087,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,440.50. This trade represents a 43.51 % 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 quarter. 3.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Merit Medical Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:MMSI opened at $95.44 on Tuesday. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $73.67 and a one year high of $111.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 3.82 and a current ratio of 5.36. The stock has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a PE ratio of 46.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $98.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.61.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $355.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $352.57 million. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 15.61% and a net margin of 9.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.