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

StockNews.com cut shares of LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

LMAT has been the topic of several other research reports. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of LeMaitre Vascular in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. They set a sector weight rating on the stock. Barrington Research raised 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $68.20.

LeMaitre Vascular Stock Performance

LMAT stock opened at $63.26 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a PE ratio of 47.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $65.09 and its 200 day moving average is $57.85. LeMaitre Vascular has a one year low of $44.27 and a one year high of $74.64.

LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The company 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 firm’s revenue was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that LeMaitre Vascular will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LeMaitre Vascular Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. This is an increase from LeMaitre Vascular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. LeMaitre Vascular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at LeMaitre Vascular

In other LeMaitre Vascular news, Director John A. Roush sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.00, for a total transaction of $517,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,182. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO George W. Lemaitre sold 27,859 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,255,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,292,541.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John A. Roush sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s 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 in the company, valued at $157,182. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 114,036 shares of company stock valued at $7,873,749 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LeMaitre Vascular

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 24.8% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 195,983 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $10,677,000 after buying an additional 38,958 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in LeMaitre Vascular by 2.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,510,567 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $82,296,000 after purchasing an additional 33,500 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in LeMaitre Vascular by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,927,971 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $109,432,000 after purchasing an additional 10,390 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in LeMaitre Vascular by 52.6% during the third quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 32,745 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,784,000 after purchasing an additional 11,280 shares during the period. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its stake in LeMaitre Vascular by 152.9% during the third quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 13,857 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $755,000 after purchasing an additional 8,378 shares during the period. 84.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.