Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Shares of Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) saw strong trading volume on Monday . 35,545 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the previous session’s volume of 39,696 shares.The stock last traded at $120.83 and had previously closed at $121.35.

Mesa Laboratories Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $118.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $626.65 million, a PE ratio of -2.49 and a beta of 0.97.

Mesa Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given 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 0.55%. Mesa Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mesa Laboratories 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,369,887.67. This represents a 32.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mesa Laboratories

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State of Wyoming boosted its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 501.4% in the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 427 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Mesa Laboratories in the first quarter worth $67,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 81.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 661 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Mesa Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at $92,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $132,000. Institutional investors own 90.60% of the company’s stock.

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.