StockNews.com Downgrades LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) to Hold

LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

LMAT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barrington Research boosted their target price on shares of LeMaitre Vascular from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of LeMaitre Vascular in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. They set a “sector weight” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, LeMaitre Vascular has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.20.

LeMaitre Vascular Stock Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ LMAT opened at $63.04 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $64.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.63, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.87. LeMaitre Vascular has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $74.64.

LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $48.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.01 million. LeMaitre Vascular had a net margin of 15.56% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The business’s revenue was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that LeMaitre Vascular will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Joseph P. Pellegrino, Jr. sold 36,967 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total value of $2,578,817.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $450,091.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other LeMaitre Vascular news, Director John A. Roush sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.00, for a total value of $517,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,278 shares in the company, valued at $157,182. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joseph P. Pellegrino, Jr. sold 36,967 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total transaction of $2,578,817.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $450,091.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 114,036 shares of company stock valued at $7,873,749 over the last three months. 12.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LeMaitre Vascular

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LMAT. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in LeMaitre Vascular by 6.6% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 20,987 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $975,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in LeMaitre Vascular by 58.0% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 12,092 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 4,441 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 8.2% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 95,806 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $4,452,000 after acquiring an additional 7,266 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 14.1% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 16,567 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 0.9% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,175,432 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $147,562,000 after acquiring an additional 28,008 shares in the last quarter. 84.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About LeMaitre Vascular

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.