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

Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) CEO Gary M. Owens sold 2,518 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.62, for a total transaction of $286,095.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,213,794.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Mesa Laboratories Price Performance

Mesa Laboratories stock opened at $114.98 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $622.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.50 and a beta of 0.85. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a 52-week low of $82.86 and a 52-week high of $141.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $127.05 and its 200 day moving average is $113.86.

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.55. The company had revenue of $58.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.90 million. Mesa Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 18.95% and a negative net margin of 111.89%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Mesa Laboratories, Inc. will post 7.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Mesa Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently -1.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MLAB shares. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Mesa Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Mesa Laboratories from $120.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Mesa Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MLAB. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 66.2% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,044 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $553,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 3.1% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 29,719 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,261,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Mesa Laboratories by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,565 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $830,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 2.5% during the first quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 194,330 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $21,324,000 after buying an additional 4,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Mesa Laboratories by 643.8% during the 1st quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 64,776 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $7,108,000 after purchasing an additional 56,067 shares during the last quarter. 90.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Mesa Laboratories

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.