Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $1,267.50.

MTD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,212.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective 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. Citigroup upped their target price on Mettler-Toledo International from $975.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Mettler-Toledo International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $1,250.00 price objective (up from $1,230.00) on shares of Mettler-Toledo International in a research note on Monday, June 3rd.

Mettler-Toledo International Stock Performance

NYSE:MTD opened at $1,353.69 on Friday. Mettler-Toledo International has a 1 year low of $928.49 and a 1 year high of $1,535.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $1,405.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,296.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.96, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.17.

Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The medical instruments supplier reported $8.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.61 by $1.28. Mettler-Toledo International had a net margin of 20.55% and a negative return on equity of 662.32%. The business had revenue of $925.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $879.72 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $8.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Mettler-Toledo International will post 40.13 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Thomas P. Salice sold 1,268 shares of Mettler-Toledo International stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,490.18, for a total transaction of $1,889,548.24. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 244 shares in the company, valued at $363,603.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Thomas P. Salice sold 1,268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,490.18, for a total transaction of $1,889,548.24. Following the sale, the director now owns 244 shares in the company, valued at $363,603.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Shawn Vadala sold 300 shares of Mettler-Toledo International stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,528.43, for a total value of $458,529.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,510,705.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,278 shares of company stock worth $4,871,849. 1.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Mettler-Toledo International by 169.4% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 573,702 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $763,764,000 after purchasing an additional 360,786 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International during the 4th quarter worth $320,847,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 15.1% in 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 buying an additional 141,431 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Mettler-Toledo International by 65.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 241,219 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $292,589,000 after acquiring an additional 95,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Mettler-Toledo International by 109,458.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 67,926 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $82,392,000 after acquiring an additional 67,864 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.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.