LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) Shares Gap Up on Strong Earnings

LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. (NASDAQ:LMAT)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $66.77, but opened at $72.00. LeMaitre Vascular shares last traded at $71.15, with a volume of 86,778 shares.

The medical instruments supplier reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $53.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.50 million. LeMaitre Vascular had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 15.56%. LeMaitre Vascular’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS.

LeMaitre Vascular Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. This is a boost from LeMaitre Vascular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. LeMaitre Vascular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LMAT has been the subject of a number of research reports. JMP Securities boosted their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded LeMaitre Vascular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp began coverage on LeMaitre Vascular in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Barrington Research boosted their price target on LeMaitre Vascular from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of LeMaitre Vascular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, LeMaitre Vascular presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.83.

Insider Transactions at LeMaitre Vascular

In related news, Director John A. Roush sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.00, for a total value of $517,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,182. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other LeMaitre Vascular news, CEO George W. Lemaitre sold 27,859 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.73, for a total transaction of $1,942,608.07. Following the sale, 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 available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John A. Roush sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.00, for a total value 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 approximately $157,182. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 114,036 shares of company stock valued at $7,873,749 over the last quarter. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of LeMaitre Vascular

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in LeMaitre Vascular during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in LeMaitre Vascular in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in LeMaitre Vascular by 325.5% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 685 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of LeMaitre Vascular during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Whitegate Investment Counselors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of LeMaitre Vascular during the first quarter valued at about $216,000. Institutional investors own 84.64% of the company’s stock.

LeMaitre Vascular Stock Up 11.2 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.39, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $65.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.71.

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.