Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday.

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

Mesa Laboratories Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of MLAB stock opened at $102.44 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $556.22 million, a P/E ratio of -2.25 and a beta of 0.87. Mesa Laboratories has a 12-month low of $83.68 and a 12-month high of $141.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $123.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $114.92.

Mesa Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Mesa Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1.40%.

Insider Transactions at Mesa Laboratories

In other news, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary M. Owens sold 2,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 5.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mesa Laboratories

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 373,397 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $40,973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,119 shares during the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Mesa Laboratories by 44.1% in the third quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 22,108 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,871,000 after acquiring an additional 6,766 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,565 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $830,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,873 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 80,739 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $7,006,000 after acquiring an additional 6,283 shares during the last quarter. 90.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mesa Laboratories Company Profile

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.