Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Mettler-Toledo International, Inc. (NYSE:MTD) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $1,541.02 and last traded at $1,530.7150, with a volume of 22219 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $1,492.34.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on MTD shares. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Mettler-Toledo International in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $1,460.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,400.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,225.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn started coverage on shares of Mettler-Toledo International in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. They issued a “sell” rating and a $1,200.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,400.00 to $1,580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1,446.36.

Mettler-Toledo International Trading Up 1.3%

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,380.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,275.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 159.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $30.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.22.

Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The medical instruments supplier reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.78 by $0.68. Mettler-Toledo International had a negative return on equity of 1,212.14% and a net margin of 21.91%.The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $10.09 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Mettler-Toledo International, Inc. will post 47.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Gerry Keller sold 240 shares of Mettler-Toledo International stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,427.14, for a total value of $342,513.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,629.26. The trade was a 48.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Patrick Kaltenbach sold 942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,425.00, for a total transaction of $1,342,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 4,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,384,000. This trade represents a 17.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 4,254 shares of company stock worth $6,092,712 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mettler-Toledo International

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,404,713,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in Mettler-Toledo International by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 969,067 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,351,064,000 after acquiring an additional 109,508 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Mettler-Toledo International by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 691,565 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $964,174,000 after acquiring an additional 3,157 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Mettler-Toledo International by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 597,448 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $830,879,000 after acquiring an additional 14,106 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International during the 2nd quarter worth $762,553,000. 95.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Mettler-Toledo International

Mettler-Toledo International Inc develops and manufactures precision instruments and related services for laboratory, industrial and retail applications. Its products include laboratory balances and scales, analytical instruments, pipettes, automated chemistry systems, titration and thermal analysis equipment, and process analytics solutions.

The company also provides industrial weighing and measurement systems, product inspection technologies such as metal detection, checkweighing and vision inspection, and software and services that support manufacturing, quality control and regulatory compliance.