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

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.com reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has $75.00 price objective on the medical instruments supplier’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $59.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Barrington Research lifted 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of LeMaitre Vascular from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on shares of LeMaitre Vascular in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. They set a sector weight rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $69.33.

LeMaitre Vascular Stock Up 3.9 %

Shares of LeMaitre Vascular stock opened at $65.46 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a PE ratio of 48.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.87. LeMaitre Vascular has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $74.64. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.15.

LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $48.90 million for 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 company’s revenue was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that LeMaitre Vascular will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LeMaitre Vascular Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at LeMaitre Vascular

In related news, CEO George W. Lemaitre sold 27,859 shares of LeMaitre Vascular stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.73, for a total transaction of $1,942,608.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,255,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,292,541.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 shares were sold at an average price of $69.73, for a total value of $1,942,608.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,255,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,292,541.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John A. Roush sold 7,500 shares of LeMaitre Vascular stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.00, for a total transaction of $517,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,182. 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 in the last three months. Company insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in LeMaitre Vascular by 0.3% in the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,932,917 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $128,268,000 after buying an additional 4,946 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 grew 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. grew 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 grew 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.