Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) CEO Gary M. Owens Sells 2,518 Shares

Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) CEO Gary M. Owens sold 2,518 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,213,794.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Mesa Laboratories Price Performance

MLAB opened at $112.68 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $127.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $113.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a 12-month low of $82.86 and a 12-month high of $141.17. The firm has a market cap of $609.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.43 and a beta of 0.85.

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) last issued 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. Mesa Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 18.95% and a negative net margin of 111.89%. The company had revenue of $58.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.90 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mesa Laboratories, Inc. will post 7.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued 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 0.57%. Mesa Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mesa Laboratories

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 44.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 22,108 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,871,000 after purchasing an additional 6,766 shares during the period. Berry Wealth Group LP purchased a new stake in Mesa Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth about $204,000. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of 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. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mesa Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at about $302,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mesa Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at about $183,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MLAB has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Mesa Laboratories from $120.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com raised Mesa Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Mesa Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock.

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.