Meros Investment Management LP Boosts Holdings in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB)

Meros Investment Management LP increased its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) by 17.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,240 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 4,941 shares during the quarter. Mesa Laboratories makes up about 2.0% of Meros Investment Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Meros Investment Management LP’s holdings in Mesa Laboratories were worth $4,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MLAB. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 9.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 214,148 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $27,809,000 after purchasing an additional 18,128 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 38.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 62,609 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $8,130,000 after purchasing an additional 17,450 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 10.9% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 165,955 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $19,722,000 after purchasing an additional 16,293 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 7.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 131,891 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $11,444,000 after acquiring an additional 8,722 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 357.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,837 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,148,000 after acquiring an additional 6,905 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.60% of the company’s stock.

Mesa Laboratories Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Mesa Laboratories stock opened at $128.86 on Wednesday. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a 1 year low of $83.68 and a 1 year high of $141.17. The firm has a market cap of $699.71 million, a PE ratio of -2.83 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $120.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.90.

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Mesa Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently -1.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mesa Laboratories

In related news, CEO Gary M. Owens sold 2,518 shares of Mesa Laboratories 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,213,794.56. The trade was a 5.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $187,375.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MLAB. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mesa Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Mesa Laboratories from $120.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Mesa Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company.

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.