Norges Bank Makes New Investment in Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 304,781 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $372,954,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Mettler-Toledo International by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 64 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 462 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC now owns 165 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $202,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mettler-Toledo International by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 368 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Mettler-Toledo International by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 306 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mettler-Toledo International

In other news, insider Gerry Keller sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,351.34, for a total transaction of $810,804.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,108.04. The trade was a 99.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Christian Magloth sold 790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,313.69, for a total transaction of $1,037,815.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $964,248.46. The trade was 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 owned by company insiders.

Mettler-Toledo International Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE MTD opened at $1,176.04 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,283.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,303.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.15. Mettler-Toledo International Inc. has a 52 week low of $1,142.91 and a 52 week high of $1,546.93.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.