Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com cut shares of Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

Separately, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the 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 Stock Performance

NYSE MTD opened at $1,192.56 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,269.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,170.18. Mettler-Toledo International has a fifty-two week low of $928.49 and a fifty-two week high of $1,601.66.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christian Magloth sold 400 shares of Mettler-Toledo International stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,278.73, for a total value of $511,492.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 734 shares in the company, valued at $938,587.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Christian Magloth sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,278.73, for a total value of $511,492.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 734 shares in the company, valued at $938,587.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Elisha W. Finney sold 251 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 316 shares in the company, valued at $372,042.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 951 shares of company stock worth $1,170,256. Company insiders own 1.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mettler-Toledo International

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTD. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Mettler-Toledo International by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,534,104 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,479,806,000 after purchasing an additional 17,826 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 933,989 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,132,891,000 after buying an additional 27,386 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 500,127 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $763,880,000 after buying an additional 2,842 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in Mettler-Toledo International by 5.6% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 488,953 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $641,330,000 after acquiring an additional 25,877 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Mettler-Toledo International by 26.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 326,105 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $471,369,000 after acquiring an additional 67,758 shares during the last quarter. 95.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mettler-Toledo International Company Profile

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.