LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) Shares Gap Up After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. (NASDAQ:LMAT)’s stock 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 trading hands.

The medical instruments supplier reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $53.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.50 million. LeMaitre Vascular had a net margin of 16.99% and a return on equity of 11.75%. The company’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share.

LeMaitre Vascular Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on LMAT. Barrington Research raised their price target on shares of LeMaitre Vascular from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of LeMaitre Vascular in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of LeMaitre Vascular from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of LeMaitre Vascular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, April 26th. 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Lawrence J. Jasinski sold 5,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 5,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $358,357.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other LeMaitre Vascular news, CFO Joseph P. Pellegrino, Jr. sold 36,967 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total transaction of $2,578,817.92. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $450,091.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Lawrence J. Jasinski sold 5,110 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.50, for a total transaction of $344,925.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,309 shares in the company, valued at $358,357.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 114,036 shares of company stock worth $7,873,749. Corporate insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LeMaitre Vascular

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of LeMaitre Vascular in the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in LeMaitre Vascular in the third quarter worth $31,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of LeMaitre Vascular by 325.5% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 685 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of LeMaitre Vascular during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Whitegate Investment Counselors Inc. bought a new position in shares of LeMaitre Vascular during the 1st quarter worth about $216,000. 84.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

LeMaitre Vascular Trading Up 11.2 %

The company has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.15, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $65.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.78.

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.