First Trust Advisors LP Trims Stock Holdings in Proto Labs, Inc. $PRLB

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its stake in Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB - Free Report) by 12.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 92,870 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 13,059 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.39% of Proto Labs worth $5,295,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PRLB. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Proto Labs by 40.8% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,155 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,526,000 after purchasing an additional 8,736 shares during the period. Bastion Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Proto Labs during the 1st quarter valued at $1,605,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its position in shares of Proto Labs by 4,959.0% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 227,655 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $11,517,000 after purchasing an additional 223,155 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Proto Labs during the 1st quarter valued at $599,000. Finally, Argos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Proto Labs during the 4th quarter valued at $413,000. 84.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Proto Labs

In other news, Director Sven Wehrwein sold 2,000 shares of Proto Labs stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total value of $154,560.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 32,505 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,511,986.40. The trade was a 5.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael R. Kenison sold 16,030 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.49, for a total value of $1,113,924.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 18,683 shares in the company, valued at $1,298,281.67. This represents a 46.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,663 shares of company stock valued at $1,804,727. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Proto Labs Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PRLB opened at $80.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.47 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $77.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.97. Proto Labs, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $42.84 and a fifty-two week high of $83.15.

Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $149.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.53 million. Proto Labs had a net margin of 5.44% and a return on equity of 4.80%. Proto Labs's revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. Proto Labs has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.560-0.640 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Proto Labs, Inc. will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PRLB. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Proto Labs from $70.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Proto Labs from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings raised Proto Labs from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Needham & Company LLC raised Proto Labs from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $87.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research cut Proto Labs from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Proto Labs presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $89.00.

About Proto Labs

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.

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