Should You Buy Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (MTD)?

What’s a smart Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) investor to do?

At the moment, there are dozens of methods investors can use to analyze the equity markets. A couple of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outclass the broader indices by a solid amount (see just how much).

Equally as crucial, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are lots of motivations for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

Thus, we’re going to study the recent info about Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD).

What have hedge funds been doing with Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD)?

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 15% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the most valuable position in Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD), worth close to $33.9 million, comprising 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Israel Englander of Millennium Management, with a $18.5 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds that hold long positions include Ben Levine Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

Now, certain bigger names have been driving this bullishness. Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, established the most outsized position in Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD). Royce & Associates had 33.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also made a $18.5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new MTD positions are Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

What have insiders been doing with Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD)?

Insider buying is most useful when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time frame, Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD). These stocks are Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:LIFE), PerkinElmer, Inc. (NYSE:PKI), Covance Inc. (NYSE:CVD), Quest Diagnostics Inc (NYSE:DGX), and Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH). All of these stocks are in the medical laboratories & research industry and their market caps are similar to MTD’s market cap.

Using the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s tactics, regular investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) is no exception.

Discover how hedge fund piggybacking can benefit you