Teton Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB)

Teton Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) by 20.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,600 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Teton Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mesa Laboratories were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MLAB. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Mesa Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,677,000. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Mesa Laboratories by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 573,037 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $75,566,000 after acquiring an additional 43,927 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Mesa Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,512,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 214,148 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $27,809,000 after acquiring an additional 18,128 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Mesa Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,888,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Mesa Laboratories Stock Performance

Mesa Laboratories stock opened at $114.09 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.71. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a one year low of $83.68 and a one year high of $155.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $129.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $619.97 million, a PE ratio of -2.47 and a beta of 0.92.

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.66. Mesa Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 30.23% and a negative net margin of 104.92%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mesa Laboratories, Inc. will post 8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Mesa Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1.38%.

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.