HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 621 Shares of Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD)

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 34,015 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 621 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mettler-Toledo International were worth $41,624,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 4,357.4% during the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 35,258 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $43,145,000 after purchasing an additional 34,467 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 5,205 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $6,370,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 6,078 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $7,438,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Mettler-Toledo International by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,281,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Mettler-Toledo International in the 4th quarter worth about $727,000. 95.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MTD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,350.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,450.00 to $1,475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,362.00 to $1,369.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,450.00 to $1,400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Mettler-Toledo International in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mettler-Toledo International presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1,380.50.

Insider Activity at Mettler-Toledo International

In related news, insider Gerry Keller sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,351.34, for a total transaction of $810,804.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $8,108.04. This represents a 99.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Christian Magloth sold 790 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,313.69, for a total value of $1,037,815.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,248.46. This represents a 51.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mettler-Toledo International Trading Down 1.2 %

MTD opened at $1,201.93 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1,295.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,319.52. Mettler-Toledo International Inc. has a 12-month low of $1,142.91 and a 12-month high of $1,546.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.66, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.15.

Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $12.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.76 by $0.65. Mettler-Toledo International had a negative return on equity of 591.54% and a net margin of 22.29%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Mettler-Toledo International Inc. will post 42.71 EPS for the current year.

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.