Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) Stock Price Up 12.3% Following Strong Earnings

Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB)’s share price rose 12.3% during trading on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as high as $143.94 and last traded at $150.43. Approximately 4,303 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 28,974 shares. The stock had previously closed at $133.93.

The medical instruments supplier reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.66. Mesa Laboratories had a negative net margin of 107.56% and a positive return on equity of 28.52%.

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Mesa Laboratories’s payout ratio is -1.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Mesa Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Institutional Trading of Mesa Laboratories

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP grew its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP now owns 1,657 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $219,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 6.5% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 1,588 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $206,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 34.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 393 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 1.8% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 11,461 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,488,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.60% of the company’s stock.

Mesa Laboratories Trading Up 12.7 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $132.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.36. The firm has a market cap of $819.33 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.33 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

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.