Avity Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stake in Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD)

Avity Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,146 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 213 shares during the quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Mettler-Toledo International were worth $6,297,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 14.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 221,799 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $332,634,000 after acquiring an additional 28,478 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Mettler-Toledo International by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,240 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,860,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 878.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,027 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after purchasing an additional 922 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 10.3% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,667 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $10,715,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 14.3% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,926 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $7,387,000 after buying an additional 615 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on MTD shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on Mettler-Toledo International in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,375.00 to $1,310.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,400.00 to $1,350.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,550.00 to $1,450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Mettler-Toledo International from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $1,351.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Gerry Keller sold 140 shares of Mettler-Toledo International stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,254.09, for a total value of $175,572.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $7,524.54. The trade was a 95.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Elisha W. Finney sold 76 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,311.75, for a total transaction of $99,693.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,820. This trade represents a 24.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.94% of the company’s stock.

Mettler-Toledo International Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MTD opened at $1,270.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,246.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,345.43. Mettler-Toledo International Inc. has a 12-month low of $1,133.46 and a 12-month high of $1,546.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.27, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.12.

Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $10.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.00 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $954.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $941.93 million. Mettler-Toledo International had a negative return on equity of 531.78% and a net margin of 21.15%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Mettler-Toledo International Inc. will post 40.42 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.