Northern Trust Corp Sells 9,849 Shares of Proto Labs, Inc. $PRLB

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp reduced its stake in Proto Labs by 3.5%, holding approximately 271,790 shares valued at $9.5 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Several hedge funds have increased their positions in Proto Labs, with GAMMA Investing LLC significantly boosting its stake by 249.4% in Q1.
• Wall Street analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating for Proto Labs, with an average price target of $52.50 following recent upgrades from firms like Craig Hallum and Cantor Fitzgerald.

Northern Trust Corp lessened its stake in shares of Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB - Free Report) by 3.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 271,790 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 9,849 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.14% of Proto Labs worth $9,524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PRLB. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Proto Labs by 9,033.1% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 148,595 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $5,207,000 after buying an additional 146,968 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Proto Labs in the first quarter worth approximately $2,458,000. SG Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Proto Labs in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,950,000. Algert Global LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Proto Labs by 137.3% in the first quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 85,084 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,981,000 after buying an additional 49,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Proto Labs by 81.8% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 96,359 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,767,000 after buying an additional 43,358 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.54% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Suresh Krishna acquired 1,725 shares of Proto Labs stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $43.51 per share, for a total transaction of $75,054.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 18,021 shares in the company, valued at approximately $784,093.71. This represents a 10.59% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PRLB shares. Craig Hallum raised shares of Proto Labs from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $54.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Proto Labs from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Proto Labs from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $52.50.

Proto Labs Stock Up 3.0%

NYSE:PRLB traded up $1.45 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $50.41. 144,218 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 156,157. The company has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.01 and a beta of 1.27. Proto Labs, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.34 and a 1 year high of $51.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $45.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.95.

Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $135.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $128.05 million. Proto Labs had a net margin of 2.91% and a return on equity of 2.22%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Proto Labs has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.350-0.430 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Proto Labs, Inc. will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Proto Labs Company Profile

Proto Labs, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital manufacturer of custom parts in the United States and Europe. The company offers injection molding; computer numerical control machining; three-dimensional printing; and sheet metal fabrication products. It serves developers and engineers, who use 3D computer-aided design software to design products across a range of end-markets.