The Vanguard Group, Inc. recently announced the acquisition of new stake in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI). The institutional investor has increased its shareholding in the Healthcare company by 0.23% to 6.85 million shares with purchase of 15626.0 shares. This fresh investment now brings its stake to 11.86% valued currently at $490.09 million. In addition, William Blair Investment Manageme raised its holdings by 0.52 million to 3.92 million shares. And Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC has lifted its position by 2.18% or 45675.0 shares – to 2.14 million shares.
With over 0.31 million Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (MMSI) shares trading Friday and a closing price of $75.59 on the day, the dollar volume was approximately $23.26 million. The shares have shown a negative half year performance of -8.15% and its price on 12/22/23 gained nearly 0.75%. Currently, there are 57.31M common shares owned by the public and among those 56.38M shares have been available to trade.
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An analysis of what Wall Street brokers have to say about the expected price targets for this stock gives us this picture: 8 analysts who have offered their price forecasts for MMSI have a consensus price objective of $89.25. The analysts have set the share’s price value over the next 12 months at a high of $102.00 and a low of $81.00. The average price target is 15.31% above its recent price level and an upside to the estimated low will see the stock gain 6.68% over that period. But an upside of 25.89% will see the stock hit the forecast high price target while median target price for the stock is $86.00.
Insiders at the company have transacted a total of 46 times over the past 12 months, according to data filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 24 of these insider trades were purchases, accounting for 353,884 shares. Insider sales of the common stock occurred on 22 occasions, with total insider shares sold totaling 294,241 shares.
The top 3 mutual fund holders in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. are iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, and Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund. iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF owns 3.86 million shares of the company’s stock, all valued at over $275.98 million. The company bought an additional 1788.0 shares recently to bring their total holdings to about 6.68% of the shares outstanding. Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF bought 2843.0 shares to see its total holdings expand to 1.81 million shares valued at over $129.45 million and representing 3.13% of the shares outstanding. Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund bought 6899.0 shares to bring its total holdings to over 1.49 million shares at a value of $106.87 million. Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund now owns shares totaling to 2.59% of the shares outstanding.
Shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MMSI) opened at $75.15, up $0.12 from a prior closing price of $75.03. However, the script later moved the day high at 76.22, up 0.75%. The company’s stock has a 5-day price change of 5.63% and 10.54% over the past three months. MMSI shares are trading 7.04% year to date (YTD), with the 12-month market performance up to 7.20% higher. It has a 12-month low price of $62.58 and touched a high of $85.62 over the same period. MMSI has an average intraday trading volume of 436.02K shares. The stock is trading above its simple moving averages at the SMA20, SMA50, and SMA200, as the current price level is off by 6.52%, 8.67%, and 2.21% respectively.
Institutional ownership of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MMSI) shares accounts for 97.11% of the company’s 57.31M shares outstanding. Mutual fund holders own 4.36%, while other institutional holders and individual stakeholders account for 58.55% and 38.86% respectively.
It has a market capitalization of $4.37B and a beta (3y monthly) value of 0.88. The stock’s trailing 12-month PE ratio is 43.92, while the earnings-per-share (ttm) stands at $1.72. The company has a PEG of 3.82 and a Quick Ratio of 1.50 with the debt-to-equity ratio at 0.29. Price movements for the stock have been influenced by the stock’s volatility, which stands at 2.46% over the week and 2.65% over the month.
Analysts forecast that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (MMSI) will achieve an EPS of $0.76 for the current quarter, $0.7 for the next quarter and $3.29 for 2024. The lowest estimate earnings-per-share for the quarter is $0.75 while analysts give the company a high EPS estimate of $0.76. Comparatively, EPS for the current quarter was $0.79 a year ago. Earnings per share for the fiscal year are expected to increase by 9.81%, and 11.14% over the next financial year. EPS should shrink at an annualized rate of 11.50% over the next five years, compared to 18.63% over the past 5-year period.
If you are looking to buy this stock, then you may note that the average analyst recommendation by 8 brokerage firm advisors rate Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (MMSI) as a “Strong Buy” at a consensus score of 1.38. Specifically, 6 Wall Street analysts polled rate the stock as a buy, while 1 of the 8 advise that investors “hold,” and 0 rated it as a “Sell.”
Looking at the support for the MMSI, a number of firms have released research notes about the stock. Canaccord Genuity stated their Buy rating for the stock in a research note on December 21, 2023, with the firm’s price target at $100.
