Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) Trading Down 4.7% Following Insider Selling

Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) fell 4.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $95.49 and last traded at $95.0110. 151,325 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 11% from the average session volume of 136,917 shares. The stock had previously closed at $99.68.

Specifically, CFO John Sakys sold 1,223 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.27, for a total transaction of $123,853.21. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 16,538 shares in the company, valued at $1,674,803.26. This represents a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, SVP Brian David Archbold sold 1,151 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.27, for a total value of $116,561.77. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 3,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $375,711.70. This represents a 23.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Weiss Ratings cut Mesa Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mesa Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $94.00.

Mesa Laboratories Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company’s 50-day moving average is $101.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.54. The company has a market capitalization of $522.69 million, a P/E ratio of 78.84 and a beta of 0.94.

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.78 by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $63.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.21 million. Mesa Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.96% and a net margin of 2.69%.During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.31) earnings per share.

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. Mesa Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 53.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Mesa Laboratories by 5.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 57,871 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $5,117,000 after acquiring an additional 3,207 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Mesa Laboratories by 143.3% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 13,275 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 7,818 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in Mesa Laboratories by 17.9% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 4,318 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Mesa Laboratories during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,797,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Mesa Laboratories by 802.9% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 31,600 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,794,000 after acquiring an additional 28,100 shares during the last quarter. 90.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Mesa Laboratories

Mesa Laboratories, Inc (NASDAQ: MLAB) is a global provider of instrumentation products designed for critical process monitoring, testing and calibration. Headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado, the company serves a diverse set of end markets including healthcare, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, energy and industrial sectors. With a focus on precision measurement and validation, Mesa Laboratories helps customers ensure regulatory compliance, product safety and operational efficiency across complex manufacturing and sterilization processes.

The company’s product portfolio encompasses biological and chemical indicators for sterilization process validation, digital data loggers and sensors for environmental monitoring, and optical gas analyzers with sample-conditioning solutions for oil, gas and petrochemical applications.