Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $32.68 Million Investment in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 247,795 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $32,677,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Mesa Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $92,000. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 283.8% in the fourth quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 9,692 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after acquiring an additional 7,167 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,584 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $736,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Mesa Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth $1,888,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 382,856 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $50,487,000 after purchasing an additional 5,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.60% of the company’s stock.

Mesa Laboratories Price Performance

MLAB stock opened at $112.92 on Thursday. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a 1 year low of $83.68 and a 1 year high of $155.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $613.61 million, a P/E ratio of -2.44 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The business’s 50-day moving average is $128.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.92.

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.66. Mesa Laboratories had a negative net margin of 104.92% and a positive return on equity of 30.23%. Analysts anticipate that Mesa Laboratories, Inc. will post 8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mesa Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Mesa Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently -1.38%.

Insider Activity at Mesa Laboratories

In other Mesa Laboratories news, CEO Gary M. Owens sold 21,000 shares of Mesa Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.91, for a total transaction of $2,602,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,369,887.67. The trade was a 32.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.