Wall Street Zen Downgrades Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) to Buy

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Friday morning.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Mesa Laboratories from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday.

Mesa Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MLAB traded down $1.96 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $102.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 42,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,912. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $115.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $557.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.22 and a beta of 0.97. Mesa Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $83.68 and a fifty-two week high of $155.12.

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Mesa Laboratories's dividend payout ratio is currently -1.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gary M. Owens sold 21,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.91, for a total value of $2,602,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,337 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,369,887.67. This trade represents a 32.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mesa Laboratories

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State of Wyoming grew its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 501.4% in the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 427 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 81.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 661 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Mesa Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth $92,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Mesa Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $132,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.60% of the company's stock.

Mesa Laboratories Company Profile

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.