Kennedy Capital Management LLC Cuts Stake in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. $MLAB

Kennedy Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,479 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 22,792 shares during the quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC owned about 1.64% of Mesa Laboratories worth $8,525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 384,613 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $45,638,000 after buying an additional 1,757 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 264,013 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $31,328,000 after acquiring an additional 16,218 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 199,092 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $18,758,000 after acquiring an additional 9,780 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Mesa Laboratories by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 138,769 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $13,076,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 439.0% during the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 73,897 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $8,769,000 after purchasing an additional 60,186 shares during the last quarter. 90.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Mesa Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Mesa Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Zacks Research raised Mesa Laboratories from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Mesa Laboratories from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $100.00 to $67.00 in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mesa Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $67.00.

Mesa Laboratories Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of MLAB stock opened at $77.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $425.87 million, a PE ratio of -241.09 and a beta of 0.90. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.45 and a 1 year high of $155.12. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.44.

Mesa Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 28th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Mesa Laboratories’s payout ratio is -200.00%.

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.