Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI – Get Rating) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 964,500 shares, a drop of 9.9% from the August 31st total of 1,070,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 353,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several brokerages recently weighed in on MMSI. TheStreet raised shares of Merit Medical Systems from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research report on Friday, September 16th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $75.00 to $70.00 in a report on Friday, July 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Merit Medical Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $67.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Friday, September 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $72.14.
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Merit Medical Systems Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:MMSI opened at $56.51 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $58.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.69. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Merit Medical Systems has a 12 month low of $50.46 and a 12 month high of $73.44.
Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 27th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.15. Merit Medical Systems had a net
margin of 5.24% and a return on equity of 13.74%. The firm had revenue of $294.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.55 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.62 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merit Medical Systems will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Merit Medical Systems news, COO Neil Peterson sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total transaction of $232,400.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Ronald Frost sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.10, for a total value of $1,242,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $940,442.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Neil Peterson sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.10, for a total value of $232,400.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,436 shares of company stock worth $1,627,142. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company's stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merit Medical Systems
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MMSI. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 148.4% during the second quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 477 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems during the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 56.2% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,287 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.52% of the company's stock.
Merit Medical Systems Company Profile
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Merit Medical Systems, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and markets single-use medical products for interventional, diagnostic, and therapeutic procedures, primarily in cardiology, radiology, oncology, critical care, and endoscopy. The company operates in two segments, Cardiovascular and Endoscopy.
Further Reading
- Get a free copy of the StockNews.com research report on Merit Medical Systems (MMSI)
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