Lavaca Capital LLC Acquires New Stake in Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD)

Lavaca Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 150 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Mettler-Toledo International by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,075,420 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,431,696,000 after acquiring an additional 141,431 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 169.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 573,702 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $763,764,000 after purchasing an additional 360,786 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Mettler-Toledo International by 127.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 259,629 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $362,855,000 after acquiring an additional 145,453 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Mettler-Toledo International by 2.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 248,007 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $330,169,000 after acquiring an additional 6,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Mettler-Toledo International by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 157,247 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $219,767,000 after purchasing an additional 2,866 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on MTD. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mettler-Toledo International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,510.00 to $1,550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,375.00 to $1,390.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $1,250.00 price target (up previously from $1,230.00) on shares of Mettler-Toledo International in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $1,356.25.

Insider Activity at Mettler-Toledo International

In other news, CFO Shawn Vadala sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,401.00, for a total value of $350,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,914 shares in the company, valued at $6,884,514. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Christian Magloth sold 1,000 shares of Mettler-Toledo International stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,422.97, for a total transaction of $1,422,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,044,459.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Shawn Vadala sold 250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,401.00, for a total value of $350,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,914 shares in the company, valued at $6,884,514. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.94% of the company’s stock.

Mettler-Toledo International Stock Performance

NYSE:MTD opened at $1,406.11 on Friday. Mettler-Toledo International Inc. has a one year low of $928.49 and a one year high of $1,546.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $1,408.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,375.76. The stock has a market cap of $30.03 billion, a PE ratio of 39.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 1.14.

Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $9.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.00 by $0.65. The firm had revenue of $946.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $929.13 million. Mettler-Toledo International had a negative return on equity of 575.61% and a net margin of 20.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $10.19 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Mettler-Toledo International Inc. will post 40.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.