Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $148.00 and last traded at $144.35, with a volume of 16966 shares. The stock had previously closed at $139.61.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MLAB shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Mesa Laboratories from $120.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mesa Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Mesa Laboratories Trading Down 1.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $127.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.20. The company has a market capitalization of $773.29 million, a PE ratio of -3.13 and a beta of 0.82.

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.14). Mesa Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 28.52% and a negative net margin of 107.56%. The business had revenue of $57.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.60 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mesa Laboratories, Inc. will post 7.39 EPS for the current year.

Mesa Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Mesa Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gary M. Owens sold 2,518 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.62, for a total transaction of $286,095.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,213,794.56. The trade was a 5.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 4.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 7.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 131,891 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $11,444,000 after acquiring an additional 8,722 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in Mesa Laboratories in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 5.9% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 11,261 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $977,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new stake in Mesa Laboratories in the second quarter valued at $311,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Mesa Laboratories in the second quarter valued at $596,000. 90.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Mesa Laboratories

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.