abrdn plc Reduces Stock Holdings in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI)

abrdn plc reduced its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 364,918 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 5,023 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in Merit Medical Systems were worth $36,065,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 2.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,216 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,621 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP raised its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 6.5% in the first quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 3,314 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $251,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 5.9% in the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,991 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 19.7% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,426 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MMSI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Merit Medical Systems from $85.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $110.00 target price (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $92.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $114.00 price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.82.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MMSI opened at $94.90 on Thursday. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.46 and a 1 year high of $101.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 4.64 and a current ratio of 6.24. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $96.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.63. The company has a market capitalization of $5.51 billion, a PE ratio of 54.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.87.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 9.02%. The firm had revenue of $338.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $334.94 million. On average, research analysts predict that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.31 earnings per share 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.