Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD - Free Report) by 182.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,467 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after purchasing an additional 5,464 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Mettler-Toledo International were worth $10,361,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 583,181 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $713,627,000 after acquiring an additional 52,726 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Mettler-Toledo International by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 558,471 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $682,340,000 after purchasing an additional 11,032 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 455,739 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $557,680,000 after buying an additional 25,873 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 363,107 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $444,327,000 after buying an additional 96,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Mettler-Toledo International in the 4th quarter worth $372,954,000. 95.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mettler-Toledo International

In other news, insider Christian Magloth sold 790 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,313.69, for a total value of $1,037,815.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 734 shares in the company, valued at $964,248.46. The trade was a 51.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mettler-Toledo International Stock Performance

Shares of Mettler-Toledo International stock traded up $27.89 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $1,145.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 287,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 146,435. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1,111.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,220.67. The company has a market cap of $23.81 billion, a PE ratio of 28.27, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.40. Mettler-Toledo International Inc. has a 12-month low of $946.69 and a 12-month high of $1,546.93.

Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $8.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.90 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $883.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $876.61 million. Mettler-Toledo International had a net margin of 22.29% and a negative return on equity of 591.54%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $8.89 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Mettler-Toledo International Inc. will post 42.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MTD. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,369.00 to $1,034.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Mettler-Toledo International from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the company from $1,200.00 to $1,110.00 in a research report on Monday, May 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mettler-Toledo International from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,125.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $1,296.13.

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.