Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) Short Interest Down 15.6% in February

Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 344,200 shares, a decrease of 15.6% from the January 31st total of 407,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 131,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christian Magloth sold 790 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,248.46. This trade represents a 51.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Gerry Keller sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $8,108.04. This represents a 99.01 % 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mettler-Toledo International

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Mettler-Toledo International by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 64 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 8 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank boosted its position in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 20.0% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 54 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in Mettler-Toledo International by 2.0% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 462 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Mettler-Toledo International by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC now owns 165 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $202,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 368 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.07% of the company’s stock.

Mettler-Toledo International Stock Performance

MTD stock traded up $17.63 during trading on Friday, hitting $1,290.17. The stock had a trading volume of 60,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 137,372. The stock has a market cap of $26.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $1,292.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,325.83. Mettler-Toledo International has a 1-year low of $1,142.91 and a 1-year high of $1,546.93.

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 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Mettler-Toledo International will post 42.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MTD. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,550.00 to $1,450.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Mettler-Toledo International in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,450.00 to $1,475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,450.00 to $1,400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,362.00 to $1,369.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mettler-Toledo International has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.