Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) Stock Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $80.01 and traded as high as $91.02. Mesa Laboratories shares last traded at $88.46, with a volume of 135,812 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MLAB. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Mesa Laboratories in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Mesa Laboratories from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Mesa Laboratories from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Mesa Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $94.00.

Mesa Laboratories Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $86.62 and its 200 day moving average is $80.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $502.76 million, a PE ratio of 142.31 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Mesa Laboratories’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Shiraz Shabanali Ladiwala acquired 3,500 shares of Mesa Laboratories stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $72.23 per share, for a total transaction of $252,805.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 8,523 shares in the company, valued at $615,616.29. This represents a 69.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Christopher Capone acquired 1,301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $76.35 per share, with a total value of $99,331.35. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 3,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $261,804.15. This trade represents a 61.14% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have bought a total of 6,116 shares of company stock valued at $452,076 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MLAB. Mason Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories in the third quarter valued at about $4,711,000. Herald Investment Management Ltd increased its position in Mesa Laboratories by 300.0% in the 3rd quarter. Herald Investment Management Ltd now owns 50,000 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,340,000 after acquiring an additional 37,500 shares during the period. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in Mesa Laboratories by 59.4% in the 3rd quarter. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 82,467 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $5,526,000 after acquiring an additional 30,723 shares during the period. Roubaix Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Mesa Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,137,000. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 84,582 shares during the period. 90.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.