Royce & Associates LP Sells 99,048 Shares of Mesa Laboratories, Inc. $MLAB

Royce & Associates LP cut its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) by 40.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 148,558 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 99,048 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Mesa Laboratories were worth $9,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 218.0% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 123,381 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $8,268,000 after buying an additional 84,582 shares during the period. Herald Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 300.0% in the third quarter. Herald Investment Management Ltd now owns 50,000 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,340,000 after acquiring an additional 37,500 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 38.3% in the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 102,198 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $9,629,000 after acquiring an additional 28,301 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Mesa Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,370,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 436.6% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 19,898 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,875,000 after purchasing an additional 16,190 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Mesa Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Mesa Laboratories from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Mesa Laboratories from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Mesa Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mesa Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $94.00.

Mesa Laboratories Stock Down 2.0%

Mesa Laboratories stock opened at $91.36 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $504.31 million, a PE ratio of 142.75 and a beta of 0.85. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.45 and a 12-month high of $142.18. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $86.80 and its 200 day moving average is $77.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.66. Mesa Laboratories had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 22.02%. The firm had revenue of $65.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.23 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mesa Laboratories, Inc. will post 8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Saturday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. Mesa Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 100.00%.

About Mesa Laboratories

Mesa Laboratories, Inc (NASDAQ: MLAB) is a global provider of instrumentation products designed for critical process monitoring, testing and calibration. Headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado, the company serves a diverse set of end markets including healthcare, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, energy and industrial sectors. With a focus on precision measurement and validation, Mesa Laboratories helps customers ensure regulatory compliance, product safety and operational efficiency across complex manufacturing and sterilization processes.

The company’s product portfolio encompasses biological and chemical indicators for sterilization process validation, digital data loggers and sensors for environmental monitoring, and optical gas analyzers with sample-conditioning solutions for oil, gas and petrochemical applications.