Stifel Nicolaus Upgrades LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) to “Buy”

Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $75.00 target price on the medical instruments supplier’s stock, up from their previous target price of $59.00.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on LMAT. StockNews.com downgraded LeMaitre Vascular from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. KeyCorp began coverage on LeMaitre Vascular in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. They issued a sector weight rating for the company. Finally, Barrington Research raised their price target on LeMaitre Vascular from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, LeMaitre Vascular currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $69.33.

LeMaitre Vascular Stock Up 3.9 %

NASDAQ:LMAT opened at $65.46 on Friday. LeMaitre Vascular has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $74.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $65.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.10. The company has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.87.

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

LeMaitre Vascular Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. This is a boost from LeMaitre Vascular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. LeMaitre Vascular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO George W. Lemaitre sold 27,859 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.73, for a total value of $1,942,608.07. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,255,737 shares in the company, valued at $157,292,541.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other LeMaitre Vascular news, CEO George W. Lemaitre sold 27,859 shares of LeMaitre Vascular stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.73, for a total value of $1,942,608.07. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,255,737 shares in the company, valued at $157,292,541.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lawrence J. Jasinski sold 5,110 shares of LeMaitre Vascular stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.50, for a total value of $344,925.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $358,357.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 114,036 shares of company stock worth $7,873,749. Company insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LeMaitre Vascular

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 0.3% during the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,932,917 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $128,268,000 after purchasing an additional 4,946 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,548,870 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $87,914,000 after acquiring an additional 38,303 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,259,961 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $71,515,000 after acquiring an additional 28,720 shares during the period. Ranger Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 912,503 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $51,794,000 after acquiring an additional 13,681 shares during the period. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 12.0% in the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 666,083 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $44,201,000 after acquiring an additional 71,411 shares during the period. 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.