Nomura Holdings Inc. Acquires 8,405 Shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI)

Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI - Free Report) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 321,728 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after purchasing an additional 8,405 shares during the quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. owned 0.55% of Merit Medical Systems worth $31,118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 305.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 112,727 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $11,142,000 after purchasing an additional 84,923 shares during the last quarter. EULAV Asset Management increased its stake in Merit Medical Systems by 400.0% in the 4th quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 115,000 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $11,123,000 after buying an additional 92,000 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 8,675 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $839,000 after buying an additional 1,049 shares in the last quarter. AMI Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Merit Medical Systems by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. AMI Asset Management Corp now owns 33,041 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $3,196,000 after buying an additional 7,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $800,000. 99.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MMSI. Wells Fargo & Company set a $106.00 price target on Merit Medical Systems and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $111.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Friday, March 28th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $116.00 to $108.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $108.67.

Merit Medical Systems Stock Performance

MMSI traded down $0.58 during trading on Monday, hitting $98.25. The stock had a trading volume of 71,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 680,033. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 5.36 and a quick ratio of 3.82. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $96.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.60. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $80.02 and a one year high of $111.45. The firm has a market cap of $5.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.70.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.11. Merit Medical Systems had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 15.61%. The company had revenue of $355.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $352.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. Merit Medical Systems's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.37 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Merit Medical Systems news, CEO Fred P. Lampropoulos sold 31,320 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.86, for a total transaction of $3,252,895.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,028 shares in the company, valued at $112,794,868.08. The trade was a 2.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Stephen C. Evans sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.31, for a total value of $526,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $490,428.67. This represents a 51.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 109,132 shares of company stock worth $11,139,521. Corporate insiders own 3.20% 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.