Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) to Overweight

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI - Free Report) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $120.00 target price on the medical instruments supplier's stock, up from their prior target price of $103.00.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on MMSI. 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 target price (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $114.00 price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $92.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $105.09.

Merit Medical Systems Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Merit Medical Systems stock traded up $1.73 on Wednesday, hitting $105.52. The stock had a trading volume of 613,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 435,378. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $99.88 and a 200 day moving average of $92.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.88, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.84. Merit Medical Systems has a twelve month low of $67.81 and a twelve month high of $108.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 3.82 and a current ratio of 5.36.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $339.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $334.60 million. Merit Medical Systems had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 15.61%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Merit Medical Systems will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Merit Medical Systems

In other news, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 29,646 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,361 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,603,705.22. This trade represents a 64.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director F. Ann Millner sold 12,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 32,391 shares in the company, valued at $3,289,306.05. This trade represents a 27.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,053,461 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $262,445,000 after purchasing an additional 10,512 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Merit Medical Systems by 1.7% in the third quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,289,148 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $226,236,000 after buying an additional 38,780 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,231,701 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $220,559,000 after buying an additional 15,098 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 70.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,577,246 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $155,879,000 after buying an additional 649,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,357,265 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $134,165,000 after acquiring an additional 17,490 shares during the period. 99.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.