ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Buys New Holdings in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,295 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MMSI. Congress Asset Management Co. MA increased its holdings in Merit Medical Systems by 4,411.3% during the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 518,485 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $39,275,000 after purchasing an additional 506,992 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Merit Medical Systems by 147.2% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 634,613 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $54,545,000 after purchasing an additional 377,851 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 1,343.5% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 192,109 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $18,986,000 after buying an additional 178,800 shares during the last quarter. F M Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $12,550,000. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 880,327 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $66,685,000 after buying an additional 131,977 shares during the last quarter. 99.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $96.00 target price on the stock. 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. StockNews.com upgraded Merit Medical Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Baird R W upgraded Merit Medical Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Barrington Research boosted 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, September 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merit Medical Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.82.

Merit Medical Systems Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of MMSI stock opened at $95.27 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 6.24 and a quick ratio of 4.64. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $63.13 and a 1 year high of $101.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.75, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.87.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $338.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $334.94 million. Merit Medical Systems had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 15.29%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Merit Medical Systems Company 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.