Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) Raised to Outperform at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. Evercore ISI currently has $1,450.00 target price on the medical instruments supplier’s stock, up from their previous target price of $1,375.00.

Several other research firms also recently commented on MTD. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,550.00 to $1,450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,375.00 to $1,310.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,400.00 to $1,350.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Mettler-Toledo International in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Mettler-Toledo International from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $1,351.25.

Mettler-Toledo International Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE MTD opened at $1,238.28 on Thursday. Mettler-Toledo International has a 12 month low of $1,115.64 and a 12 month high of $1,546.93. The company’s 50 day moving average is $1,256.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,356.20. The stock has a market cap of $26.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.39, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.13.

Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $10.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.00 by $0.21. Mettler-Toledo International had a net margin of 21.15% and a negative return on equity of 531.78%. The business had revenue of $954.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $941.93 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Mettler-Toledo International will post 40.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Elisha W. Finney sold 76 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,311.75, for a total value of $99,693.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,820. This represents a 24.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Gerry Keller sold 140 shares of Mettler-Toledo International stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,254.09, for a total transaction of $175,572.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,524.54. This represents a 95.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mettler-Toledo International

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MTD. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Mettler-Toledo International by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 294 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 97.7% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 85 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Mettler-Toledo International by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 221,799 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $332,634,000 after buying an additional 28,478 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Mettler-Toledo International during the 3rd quarter valued at about $237,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in Mettler-Toledo International by 610.4% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 33,462 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $50,183,000 after buying an additional 28,752 shares during the period. 95.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Mettler-Toledo International

Mettler-Toledo International Inc manufactures and supplies precision instruments and services in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and internationally. It operates through five segments: U.S. Operations, Swiss Operations, Western European Operations, Chinese Operations, and Other. The company’s laboratory instruments include laboratory balances, liquid pipetting solutions, automated laboratory reactors, real-time analytics, titrators, pH meters, process analytics sensors and analyzer technologies, physical value analyzers, density and refractometry, thermal analysis systems, and other analytical instruments; and LabX, a laboratory software platform to manage and analyze data generated from its instruments.