Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 118,590 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 6,321 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Proto Labs were worth $3,483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Proto Labs by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,980,157 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $106,541,000 after acquiring an additional 57,894 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in shares of Proto Labs by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 1,946,349 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $60,123,000 after purchasing an additional 36,510 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Proto Labs by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,110,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,305,000 after purchasing an additional 130,670 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Proto Labs by 32.3% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 435,823 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,463,000 after buying an additional 106,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Proto Labs by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 299,848 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,807,000 after buying an additional 55,932 shares in the last quarter. 84.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PRLB shares. StockNews.com cut Proto Labs from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Craig Hallum upped their price target on Proto Labs from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Proto Labs in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Proto Labs in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Proto Labs has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Proto Labs news, CEO Robert Bodor acquired 3,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $28.68 per share, for a total transaction of $99,806.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 80,878 shares in the company, valued at $2,319,581.04. The trade was a 4.50 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Proto Labs Trading Up 1.2 %

PRLB stock opened at $39.74 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $31.36 and a 200-day moving average of $31.10. Proto Labs, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.75 and a 12-month high of $41.87. The company has a market cap of $974.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.28 and a beta of 1.32.

Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $125.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.38 million. Proto Labs had a net margin of 4.76% and a return on equity of 3.49%. The company’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Proto Labs, Inc. will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Proto Labs Profile

Proto Labs, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital manufacturer of custom parts in the United States and Europe. The company offers injection molding; computer numerical control machining; three-dimensional printing; and sheet metal fabrication products. It serves developers and engineers, who use 3D computer-aided design software to design products across a range of end-markets.