LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. (NASDAQ:LMAT) Short Interest Up 37.5% in December

LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. (NASDAQ:LMAT) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,210,000 shares, a growth of 37.5% from the December 15th total of 880,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 157,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.7 days. Currently, 5.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on LMAT shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of LeMaitre Vascular from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barrington Research lifted their price objective on shares of LeMaitre Vascular from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $93.00 target price (up from $90.00) on shares of LeMaitre Vascular in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on LeMaitre Vascular in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $96.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.57.

LeMaitre Vascular Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ LMAT traded up $0.83 during trading on Friday, hitting $99.06. The stock had a trading volume of 116,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 211,181. The company has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a PE ratio of 54.13, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $98.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.80. LeMaitre Vascular has a twelve month low of $56.04 and a twelve month high of $109.58.

LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.05. LeMaitre Vascular had a net margin of 19.40% and a return on equity of 13.15%. The firm had revenue of $54.82 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that LeMaitre Vascular will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

LeMaitre Vascular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. LeMaitre Vascular’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.97%.

Insider Transactions at LeMaitre Vascular

In related news, Director Bridget A. Ross sold 3,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.47, for a total value of $380,512.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,148.66. The trade was a 62.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LeMaitre Vascular

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LMAT. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in LeMaitre Vascular in the fourth quarter valued at $158,000. Albion Financial Group UT boosted its position in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 3,796 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $350,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 31,677 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,919,000 after acquiring an additional 1,769 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,942 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,837,000 after acquiring an additional 2,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 24,770 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,282,000 after buying an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. 84.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LeMaitre Vascular Company Profile

LeMaitre Vascular, Inc develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices and implants used in the field of vascular surgery worldwide. It offers human cadaver tissue cryopreservation services; angioscope, a fiberoptic catheter used for viewing the lumen of a blood vessel; embolectomy catheters to remove blood clots from arteries; thrombectomy catheters for removing thrombi in the venous system; occlusion catheters that temporarily occlude the blood flow; and perfusion catheters to perfuse the blood and other fluids into the vasculature.