StockNews.com Lowers Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) to Buy

StockNews.com lowered shares of Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Proto Labs in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Proto Labs in a research note on Monday. Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Proto Labs in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Craig Hallum cut their target price on shares of Proto Labs from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Proto Labs Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PRLB opened at $28.37 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $718.21 million, a PE ratio of 36.84 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $31.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.22. Proto Labs has a 1 year low of $23.01 and a 1 year high of $41.87.

Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $125.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $126.25 million. Proto Labs had a net margin of 3.92% and a return on equity of 2.88%. Proto Labs’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.01) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Proto Labs will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Proto Labs

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PRLB. Norges Bank bought a new position in Proto Labs during the fourth quarter valued at $11,382,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Proto Labs during the second quarter valued at $7,535,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Proto Labs during the fourth quarter valued at $3,911,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in Proto Labs by 89.3% during the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 147,011 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,256,000 after purchasing an additional 69,347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Proto Labs during the fourth quarter valued at $2,445,000. Institutional investors own 84.54% of the company’s stock.

Proto Labs Company Profile

Proto Labs, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital manufacturer of custom parts in the United States and Europe. The company offers injection molding; computer numerical control machining; three-dimensional printing; and sheet metal fabrication products. It serves developers and engineers, who use 3D computer-aided design software to design products across a range of end-markets.