Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) Shares Sold by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP trimmed its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,850 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 9,723 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Mesa Laboratories were worth $15,013,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MLAB. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Mesa Laboratories by 27.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,444 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,403 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 357.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,837 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,148,000 after purchasing an additional 6,905 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 29.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,406 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,906 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,755 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Mesa Laboratories by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 573,037 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $75,566,000 after buying an additional 43,927 shares during the period. 90.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mesa Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of MLAB stock opened at $126.37 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $119.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $126.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $686.69 million, a PE ratio of -2.73 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a 52 week low of $83.68 and a 52 week high of $155.12.

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.66. Mesa Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 30.23% and a negative net margin of 104.92%. On average, research analysts predict that Mesa Laboratories, Inc. will post 8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mesa Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Mesa Laboratories’s payout ratio is -1.38%.

Insider Activity at Mesa Laboratories

In other Mesa Laboratories news, CEO Gary M. Owens sold 21,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.91, for a total value of $2,602,110.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,369,887.67. This represents a 32.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 4.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Mesa Laboratories 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.