Geneva Capital Management LLC Cuts Stake in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB)

Geneva Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 189,013 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 2,963 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC owned approximately 3.48% of Mesa Laboratories worth $24,925,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $32,677,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 62.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,844 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 706 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,394 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 25.1% in the 4th quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 27,668 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,649,000 after buying an additional 5,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 38,359 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $5,058,000 after buying an additional 3,252 shares in the last quarter. 90.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Mesa Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Mesa Laboratories Price Performance

NASDAQ MLAB opened at $137.55 on Thursday. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a one year low of $83.68 and a one year high of $155.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $139.99 and a 200 day moving average of $129.56. The company has a market capitalization of $747.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.97 and a beta of 0.83. 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 (NASDAQ:MLAB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mesa Laboratories, Inc. will post 8 EPS for the current year.

Mesa Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Mesa Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1.38%.

Mesa Laboratories Profile

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.