Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Reduces Stock Position in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. $MMSI

Key Points

• Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH reduced its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 8.5%, selling 16,544 shares and holding 177,806 shares, valued at approximately $16.6 million as of the second quarter.
• Institutional investors collectively own 99.66% of Merit Medical Systems, with significant adjustments in holdings by firms like Evergreen Capital Management LLC and MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB.
• Multiple analysts have revised their price targets for Merit Medical Systems, with Piper Sandler lowering its target from $110 to $105, while eight analysts maintain a Buy rating on the stock.

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH cut its holdings in Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI - Free Report) by 8.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 177,806 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after selling 16,544 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned about 0.30% of Merit Medical Systems worth $16,621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 2.4% during the first quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 4,616 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $488,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 55.6% in the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 375 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,936 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Merit Medical Systems by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,065 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $535,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, CWC Advisors LLC. lifted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 2.7% in the second quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 5,892 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $551,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.66% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merit Medical Systems news, Director Lynne N. Ward sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.56, for a total transaction of $265,680.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,809 shares in the company, valued at $1,134,365.04. This represents a 18.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Merit Medical Systems from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $108.00 target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $103.00 price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $107.50.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ MMSI opened at $80.20 on Monday. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.10 and a 52-week high of $111.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.71, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $86.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 4.09.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.16. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 8.31%.The company had revenue of $382.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $372.47 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. Merit Medical Systems's quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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