Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Strong-Buy Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on MLAB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Mesa Laboratories from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Mesa Laboratories in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Mesa Laboratories from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mesa Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $94.00.

Mesa Laboratories Price Performance

Mesa Laboratories stock opened at $93.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $514.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.74 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Mesa Laboratories has a 12 month low of $55.45 and a 12 month high of $155.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $82.11 and its 200-day moving average is $74.92.

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.66. Mesa Laboratories had a return on equity of 22.02% and a net margin of 1.51%.The business had revenue of $65.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.23 million. Equities research analysts expect that Mesa Laboratories will post 8 EPS for the current year.

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, February 28th will be given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mesa Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Institutional Trading of Mesa Laboratories

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MLAB. Simcoe Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Mesa Laboratories during the third quarter worth $12,794,000. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 2,009.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 114,357 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $7,664,000 after buying an additional 108,936 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 218.0% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 123,381 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $8,268,000 after buying an additional 84,582 shares during the last quarter. Roubaix Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Mesa Laboratories in the third quarter valued at about $5,137,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Mesa Laboratories by 131.9% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 133,817 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $8,967,000 after buying an additional 76,107 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.60% of the company’s stock.

About Mesa Laboratories

Mesa Laboratories, Inc (NASDAQ: MLAB) is a global provider of instrumentation products designed for critical process monitoring, testing and calibration. Headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado, the company serves a diverse set of end markets including healthcare, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, energy and industrial sectors. With a focus on precision measurement and validation, Mesa Laboratories helps customers ensure regulatory compliance, product safety and operational efficiency across complex manufacturing and sterilization processes.

The company’s product portfolio encompasses biological and chemical indicators for sterilization process validation, digital data loggers and sensors for environmental monitoring, and optical gas analyzers with sample-conditioning solutions for oil, gas and petrochemical applications.