Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) Shares Sold by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP trimmed its holdings in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) by 12.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 347,145 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 47,356 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.06% of Mesa Laboratories worth $45,080,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Mesa Laboratories during the third quarter valued at about $493,000. Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 191,976 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $24,930,000 after purchasing an additional 3,732 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 90.3% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,001 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,818,000 after buying an additional 6,643 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 21.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 35,107 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,559,000 after buying an additional 6,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. 90.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MLAB. StockNews.com downgraded Mesa Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Mesa Laboratories from $120.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Mesa Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company.

Mesa Laboratories Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MLAB opened at $104.60 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $123.52 and a 200-day moving average of $114.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.70. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a twelve month low of $83.68 and a twelve month high of $141.17.

Mesa Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. Mesa Laboratories’s payout ratio is -1.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Gary M. Owens sold 2,518 shares of Mesa Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.62, for a total transaction of $286,095.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,888 shares in the company, valued at $5,213,794.56. The trade was a 5.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brian David Archbold sold 1,499 shares of Mesa Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $187,375.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.

Mesa Laboratories Profile

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.