Van ECK Associates Corp Makes New Investment in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI)

Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,526 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $718,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in Merit Medical Systems by 17,716.1% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 9,977 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $756,000 after purchasing an additional 9,921 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Merit Medical Systems by 97.4% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,208 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 2,076 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 0.4% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 114,000 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $8,636,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Merit Medical Systems during the first quarter worth $50,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,484 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $870,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. 99.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on MMSI. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (up from $100.00) on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $92.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $85.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.36.

Merit Medical Systems Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ MMSI opened at $104.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 5.36, a quick ratio of 3.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.46 and a 12-month high of $105.15. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.10.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $339.85 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $334.60 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 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Raul Jr. Parra sold 29,646 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.02, for a total value of $2,905,900.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,603,705.22. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

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.