LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on LMAT. Barrington Research boosted their target price on shares of LeMaitre Vascular from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of LeMaitre Vascular from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of LeMaitre Vascular in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. They issued a sector weight rating for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded LeMaitre Vascular from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, April 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $73.83.

LeMaitre Vascular Price Performance

LMAT stock opened at $74.22 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.71. LeMaitre Vascular has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $74.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a PE ratio of 49.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.88.

LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.05. LeMaitre Vascular had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 16.99%. The firm had revenue of $53.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. LeMaitre Vascular’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that LeMaitre Vascular will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

LeMaitre Vascular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. LeMaitre Vascular’s payout ratio is 42.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LeMaitre Vascular news, Director Lawrence J. Jasinski sold 5,110 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.50, for a total transaction of $344,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,309 shares in the company, valued at $358,357.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other LeMaitre Vascular news, Director Lawrence J. Jasinski sold 5,110 shares of LeMaitre Vascular stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.50, for a total transaction of $344,925.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $358,357.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John A. Roush sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.00, for a total transaction of $517,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,182. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 114,036 shares of company stock valued at $7,873,749. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position 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 during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in LeMaitre Vascular by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,510,567 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $82,296,000 after acquiring an additional 33,500 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in LeMaitre Vascular by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,927,971 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $109,432,000 after acquiring an additional 10,390 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in LeMaitre Vascular by 52.6% in the third quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 32,745 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 11,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP grew its position in LeMaitre Vascular by 152.9% in the third quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 13,857 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $755,000 after acquiring an additional 8,378 shares in the last quarter. 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.