Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $53.3333.

Several brokerages have commented on PRLB. Benchmark raised their price objective on Proto Labs from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Craig Hallum upgraded Proto Labs from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Proto Labs in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Proto Labs from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Proto Labs from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Proto Labs by 791.9% in the 2nd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 1,034,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,408,000 after buying an additional 918,219 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Proto Labs by 97.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 711,738 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $24,939,000 after acquiring an additional 351,097 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $5,207,000 after acquiring an additional 146,968 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Proto Labs in the first quarter worth approximately $2,458,000. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position in shares of Proto Labs by 1.9% during the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 2,722,011 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $108,989,000 after purchasing an additional 51,293 shares in the last quarter. 84.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Proto Labs Stock Performance

PRLB opened at $49.69 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $50.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.82 and a beta of 1.24. Proto Labs has a fifty-two week low of $27.18 and a fifty-two week high of $55.90.

Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.08. Proto Labs had a net margin of 2.91% and a return on equity of 2.22%. The business had revenue of $135.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $133.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Proto Labs has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.300-0.380 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Proto Labs will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current 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.