Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Has $2.87 Million Stock Holdings in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB)

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC boosted its position in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) by 44.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,108 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,766 shares during the period. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC’s holdings in Mesa Laboratories were worth $2,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Mesa Laboratories by 66.2% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,044 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $553,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Mesa Laboratories by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,565 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $830,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 194,330 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $21,324,000 after purchasing an additional 4,801 shares during the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Mesa Laboratories by 643.8% during the first quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 64,776 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $7,108,000 after purchasing an additional 56,067 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 373,397 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $40,973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,119 shares during the last quarter. 90.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mesa Laboratories Trading Up 3.5 %

MLAB stock opened at $118.00 on Friday. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a 52 week low of $82.86 and a 52 week high of $141.17. The company has a market capitalization of $638.38 million, a PE ratio of -2.52 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.94.

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

Mesa Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Mesa Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Transactions at Mesa Laboratories

In other Mesa Laboratories news, SVP Brian David Archbold sold 1,499 shares of the company’s 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Brian David Archbold sold 1,499 shares of Mesa Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $187,375.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary M. Owens sold 2,518 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,213,794.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.