Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) gapped down prior to trading on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $103.00 to $95.00. The stock had previously closed at $87.40, but opened at $80.03. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Merit Medical Systems shares last traded at $84.8050, with a volume of 543,019 shares trading hands.

A number of other analysts have also commented on MMSI. Robert W. Baird set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $109.00 price target (up from $105.00) on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Zacks Research raised Merit Medical Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $105.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lynne N. Ward sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.56, for a total transaction of $265,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,134,365.04. The trade was a 18.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merit Medical Systems

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 4,689 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in Merit Medical Systems by 134.5% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,782 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 38.5% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 108,301 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $11,448,000 after purchasing an additional 30,130 shares during the last quarter. Hardy Reed LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems during the first quarter worth about $205,000. Finally, Archer Investment Corp acquired a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the first quarter valued at approximately $201,000. 99.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merit Medical Systems Trading Down 3.4%

The business’s fifty day moving average is $84.42 and its 200-day moving average is $88.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 4.09. The firm has a market cap of $5.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.64.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $384.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $371.69 million. Merit Medical Systems had a net margin of 8.31% and a return on equity of 15.07%. The company’s revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. Merit Medical Systems has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.660-3.790 EPS. Analysts predict that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.37 EPS for the current 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.