Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) Downgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Separately, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mettler-Toledo International presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $1,233.25.

Mettler-Toledo International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MTD traded down $5.47 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $1,192.56. 166,943 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 141,957. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1,269.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,170.18. The firm has a market cap of $25.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.15. Mettler-Toledo International has a twelve month low of $928.49 and a twelve month high of $1,601.66.

Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The medical instruments supplier reported $9.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $10.32 by ($0.92). The business had revenue of $934.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $959.45 million. Mettler-Toledo International had a negative return on equity of 904.59% and a net margin of 20.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $12.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Mettler-Toledo International will post 39.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Elisha W. Finney sold 251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,177.35, for a total transaction of $295,514.85. Following the sale, the director now owns 316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $372,042.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Elisha W. Finney sold 251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,177.35, for a total transaction of $295,514.85. Following the sale, the director now owns 316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $372,042.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Shawn Vadala sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,210.83, for a total value of $363,249.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,950,018.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 951 shares of company stock valued at $1,170,256 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 162.5% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 21 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mettler-Toledo International in the first quarter valued at $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Mettler-Toledo International in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Mettler-Toledo International in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Mettler-Toledo International in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors own 95.07% of the company’s stock.

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.Its industrial instruments comprise industrial weighing instruments and related terminals, automatic dimensional measurement and data capture solutions, vehicle scale systems, industrial software, metal detection equipment, x-ray systems, check weighing equipment, camera-based imaging equipment, track-and-trace solutions, and product inspection systems.