Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) CEO Sells $286,095.16 in Stock

Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) CEO Gary M. Owens sold 2,518 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.62, for a total value of $286,095.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,888 shares in the company, valued at $5,213,794.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Mesa Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of Mesa Laboratories stock opened at $114.04 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $616.84 million, a PE ratio of -2.46 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $126.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a twelve month low of $82.86 and a twelve month high of $141.17.

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.55. The firm had revenue of $58.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.90 million. Mesa Laboratories had a negative net margin of 111.89% and a positive return on equity of 18.95%. Sell-side analysts predict that Mesa Laboratories, Inc. will post 7.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Mesa Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1.38%.

Institutional Trading of Mesa Laboratories

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 35,107 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $4,559,000 after purchasing an additional 6,292 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 6.5% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 1,588 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $206,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC boosted its position in Mesa Laboratories by 44.1% during the third quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 22,108 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,871,000 after acquiring an additional 6,766 shares during the last quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP purchased a new stake in Mesa Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at about $204,000. Finally, Creative Planning raised its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 100.3% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 5,389 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $700,000 after acquiring an additional 2,698 shares during the last quarter. 90.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MLAB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Mesa Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Mesa Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price 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.

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.