Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $56.21 and last traded at $56.5560, with a volume of 36393 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.43.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PRLB shares. Zacks Research downgraded Proto Labs from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Proto Labs in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of Proto Labs from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.33.

Proto Labs Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.94 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.38.

Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $135.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $133.83 million. Proto Labs had a return on equity of 2.23% and a net margin of 2.86%.The company’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. Proto Labs has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.300-0.380 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Proto Labs, Inc. will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Proto Labs news, insider Michael R. Kenison sold 3,048 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total transaction of $152,918.16. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 28,898 shares in the company, valued at $1,449,812.66. This represents a 9.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Proto Labs

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lifted its stake in Proto Labs by 79.9% during the third quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 25,900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,296,000 after purchasing an additional 11,500 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Proto Labs by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 194,832 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,801,000 after purchasing an additional 6,921 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Proto Labs by 28.4% during the 2nd quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 153,624 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,151,000 after buying an additional 34,000 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Proto Labs during the 2nd quarter worth $224,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Proto Labs by 0.6% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 249,584 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,986,000 after buying an additional 1,427 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.54% of the company’s stock.

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.