LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

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

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on LMAT. Barrington Research increased their price target on shares of LeMaitre Vascular from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of LeMaitre Vascular in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. They set a “sector weight” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.20.

LeMaitre Vascular Stock Performance

Shares of LeMaitre Vascular stock opened at $64.45 on Tuesday. LeMaitre Vascular has a 52-week low of $44.27 and a 52-week high of $74.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $64.75 and a 200-day moving average of $57.58.

LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. LeMaitre Vascular had a net margin of 15.56% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The company had revenue of $48.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.01 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that LeMaitre Vascular will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LeMaitre Vascular news, CEO George W. Lemaitre sold 36,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.03, for a total value of $2,489,898.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,187,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,817,393.78. 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, Director Lawrence J. Jasinski sold 5,110 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 5,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $358,357.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO George W. Lemaitre sold 36,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.03, for a total transaction of $2,489,898.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,187,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,817,393.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 114,036 shares of company stock worth $7,873,749. 12.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LMAT. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of LeMaitre Vascular in the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,837,000. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 36.3% in the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 508,379 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $27,696,000 after buying an additional 135,266 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 10.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,235 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $66,278,000 after buying an additional 130,881 shares during the last quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 15.8% in the third quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 898,822 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $48,968,000 after buying an additional 122,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of LeMaitre Vascular in the second quarter worth approximately $4,254,000. 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.