Royce & Associates LP Reduces Holdings in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB)

Royce & Associates LP cut its holdings in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB - Free Report) by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 347,145 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after selling 47,356 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 6.42% of Mesa Laboratories worth $45,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Meros Investment Management LP acquired a new position in Mesa Laboratories during the second quarter worth about $2,456,000. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mesa Laboratories during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,606,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Mesa Laboratories by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 131,891 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $11,444,000 after buying an additional 8,722 shares in the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 89.3% during the 1st quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 16,488 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $1,809,000 after buying an additional 7,779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in Mesa Laboratories during the second quarter worth $596,000. 90.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MLAB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Mesa Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI upped 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mesa Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday.

Mesa Laboratories Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of MLAB stock traded down $2.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $102.43. 35,045 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 41,301. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.88. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $83.68 and a fifty-two week high of $141.17. The stock has a market cap of $556.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.25 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Mesa Laboratories's payout ratio is currently -1.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian David Archbold sold 1,499 shares of Mesa Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $187,375.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Gary M. Owens sold 2,518 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.62, for a total value of $286,095.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,213,794.56. The trade was a 5.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.40% of the company's stock.

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.