Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB) Short Interest Update

Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB) saw a significant drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 682,100 shares, a drop of 23.6% from the December 15th total of 892,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 272,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Approximately 2.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Proto Labs Trading Down 1.2 %

PRLB traded down $0.48 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 651,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 205,691. Proto Labs has a twelve month low of $25.75 and a twelve month high of $45.15. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $942.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.92 and a beta of 1.45.

Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $125.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.38 million. Proto Labs had a return on equity of 3.49% and a net margin of 4.76%. Proto Labs’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Proto Labs will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Proto Labs

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PRLB. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Proto Labs by 1.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 42,931 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,326,000 after acquiring an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Proto Labs by 8.7% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 26,762 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $827,000 after acquiring an additional 2,141 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Proto Labs by 13.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,110,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,305,000 after acquiring an additional 130,670 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Proto Labs by 32.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 435,823 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,463,000 after acquiring an additional 106,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Proto Labs by 17.9% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 12,969 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,969 shares during the last quarter. 84.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Craig Hallum lifted their price target on Proto Labs from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Proto Labs in a report on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Proto Labs in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Proto Labs presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.33.

Proto Labs Company 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.