Nicholas Company Inc. Reduces Holdings in Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD)

Nicholas Company Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,149 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 10 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Mettler-Toledo International worth $18,538,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MTD. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Mettler-Toledo International by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 954,653 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,431,693,000 after acquiring an additional 9,009 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Mettler-Toledo International by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 547,439 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $818,906,000 after acquiring an additional 4,166 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Mettler-Toledo International by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 274,563 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $335,977,000 after acquiring an additional 33,456 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Mettler-Toledo International by 8.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 256,602 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $384,822,000 after acquiring an additional 19,609 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in 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 worth $332,634,000 after purchasing an additional 28,478 shares in the last quarter. 95.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Christian Magloth sold 790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,313.69, for a total transaction of $1,037,815.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $964,248.46. This trade represents a 51.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Gerry Keller sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,351.34, for a total transaction of $810,804.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,108.04. The trade was a 99.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.94% of the company’s stock.

Mettler-Toledo International Stock Performance

Shares of MTD stock opened at $1,231.32 on Friday. Mettler-Toledo International Inc. has a one year low of $1,142.91 and a one year high of $1,546.93. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $1,295.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,317.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.15.

Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $12.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts forecast that Mettler-Toledo International Inc. will post 42.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MTD shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Mettler-Toledo International in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,350.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,362.00 to $1,369.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,450.00 to $1,400.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,450.00 to $1,475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $1,380.50.

Mettler-Toledo International 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.