Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $65.3333.

PRLB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Proto Labs from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Proto Labs from $70.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Proto Labs from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Proto Labs from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Proto Labs

In other news, Director Sven Wehrwein sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total transaction of $154,560.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 32,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,511,986.40. This trade represents a 5.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael R. Kenison sold 16,030 shares of Proto Labs stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.49, for a total value of $1,113,924.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 18,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,298,281.67. This represents a 46.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 25,663 shares of company stock valued at $1,804,727 over the last three months. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Proto Labs

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its position in Proto Labs by 791.9% during the 2nd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 1,034,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,408,000 after acquiring an additional 918,219 shares during the last quarter. American Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Proto Labs by 126.0% in the 4th quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 631,311 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,938,000 after purchasing an additional 352,015 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in Proto Labs by 4,959.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 227,655 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,517,000 after purchasing an additional 223,155 shares during the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Proto Labs in the third quarter valued at approximately $6,425,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Proto Labs by 952.6% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 90,587 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,532,000 after purchasing an additional 81,981 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.54% of the company’s stock.

Proto Labs Trading Up 0.3%

PRLB opened at $77.37 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $75.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.92. Proto Labs has a 12-month low of $38.48 and a 12-month high of $83.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.99 and a beta of 1.38.

Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $139.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $135.31 million. Proto Labs had a return on equity of 4.15% and a net margin of 4.71%.Proto Labs’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. Proto Labs has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.580 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Proto Labs will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

Proto Labs Company Profile

Proto Labs, Inc is a digital manufacturing company that offers on-demand production services for custom parts and prototypes. Utilizing technologies such as 3D printing (additive manufacturing), CNC machining and injection molding, the company transforms digital CAD designs into functional parts on accelerated timelines. Its platform-driven process combines automated quoting, rapid tool generation and manufacturing execution to serve product developers, engineers and small- to medium-sized production runs.

Founded in 1999 by Larry Lukis, Proto Labs has championed the application of digital workflows to traditional manufacturing methods.