Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on MLAB. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Mesa Laboratories from $120.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Mesa Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company.

Mesa Laboratories Price Performance

NASDAQ MLAB opened at $117.89 on Tuesday. Mesa Laboratories has a twelve month low of $82.86 and a twelve month high of $141.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $637.78 million, a PE ratio of -2.54 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $124.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.94.

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.55. Mesa Laboratories had a negative net margin of 111.89% and a positive return on equity of 18.95%. The business had revenue of $58.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.90 million. Research analysts anticipate that Mesa Laboratories will post 7.91 EPS for the current year.

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Mesa Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1.38%.

Insider Transactions at Mesa Laboratories

In other news, CEO Gary M. Owens sold 2,518 shares of Mesa Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.62, for a total transaction of $286,095.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,888 shares in the company, valued at $5,213,794.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Gary M. Owens sold 2,518 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.62, for a total value of $286,095.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,888 shares in the company, valued at $5,213,794.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brian David Archbold sold 1,499 shares of Mesa Laboratories stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $187,375.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mesa Laboratories

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at $493,000. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Mesa Laboratories by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 191,976 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $24,930,000 after acquiring an additional 3,732 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 90.3% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,001 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,818,000 after acquiring an additional 6,643 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 21.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 35,107 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,559,000 after purchasing an additional 6,292 shares during the period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 6.5% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 1,588 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. 90.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Mesa Laboratories

Mesa Laboratories, Inc develops, designs, manufactures, sells, and services life sciences tools and quality control products and services in North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The Sterilization and Disinfection Control segment offers biological, chemical, and cleaning indicators, used to assess the effectiveness of sterilization decontamination, disinfection, and cleaning processes in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare industries.