Nomura Holdings Inc. Purchases Shares of 4,558 Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI)

Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,558 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $346,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MMSI. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Merit Medical Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 114.6% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of Merit Medical Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $67,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Merit Medical Systems by 60.7% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $161,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.66% of the company’s stock.

Merit Medical Systems Price Performance

Shares of MMSI opened at $82.21 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 6.03, a quick ratio of 4.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $79.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.10. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.58 and a twelve month high of $85.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a PE ratio of 47.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.91.

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.06. Merit Medical Systems had a return on equity of 15.02% and a net margin of 7.94%. The firm had revenue of $323.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. Merit Medical Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Merit Medical Systems, Inc. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Merit Medical Systems

In other news, COO Neil Peterson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.85, for a total transaction of $613,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,212,935.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MMSI. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Merit Medical Systems from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. CL King assumed coverage on shares of Merit Medical Systems in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on shares of Merit Medical Systems from $112.00 to $102.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Merit Medical Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.78.

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.