Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday.

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

Mesa Laboratories Stock Up 3.0 %

MLAB opened at $126.18 on Thursday. Mesa Laboratories has a 1-year low of $82.86 and a 1-year high of $141.17. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $682.51 million, a PE ratio of -2.68 and a beta of 0.85.

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.55. Mesa Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 18.95% and a negative net margin of 111.89%. The business had revenue of $58.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.90 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Mesa Laboratories will post 7.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mesa Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Mesa Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is -1.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mesa Laboratories

In other news, SVP Brian David Archbold sold 1,499 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $187,375.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mesa Laboratories

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Boone Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth $6,712,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Mesa Laboratories by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 373,397 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $40,973,000 after buying an additional 3,119 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Mesa Laboratories in the first quarter valued at about $605,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Mesa Laboratories by 66.2% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,044 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $553,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 4.5% in the first 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 last quarter. 90.60% of the stock is 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.