Benjamin Edwards Inc. Invests $311,000 in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,623 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MMSI. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merit Medical Systems in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 114.6% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 397 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in Merit Medical Systems in the 1st quarter worth about $44,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Merit Medical Systems in the 1st quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 142.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 831 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.66% of the company’s stock.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MMSI opened at $99.56 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 6.24, a quick ratio of 4.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $62.58 and a 1-year high of $101.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $91.73 and its 200 day moving average is $83.16.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on MMSI shares. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Barrington Research raised their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Merit Medical Systems in a research report on Friday, June 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. Baird R W upgraded Merit Medical Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merit Medical Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.82.

Insider Activity at Merit Medical Systems

In other Merit Medical Systems news, Director F. Ann Millner sold 12,500 shares of Merit Medical Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total value of $1,062,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,753,235. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Merit Medical Systems 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.