Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. $MLAB

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 141,973 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,592 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Mesa Laboratories were worth $11,145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,068 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Mesa Laboratories by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,431 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,265,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 30.9% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,029 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 30,772 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,652,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 432.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 842 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 684 shares during the period. 90.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MLAB. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Mesa Laboratories from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Mesa Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Mesa Laboratories in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $94.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mesa Laboratories news, Director Shiraz Shabanali Ladiwala bought 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $72.23 per share, for a total transaction of $252,805.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 8,523 shares in the company, valued at $615,616.29. This trade represents a 69.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Christopher Capone bought 1,301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $76.35 per share, with a total value of $99,331.35. Following the purchase, the director owned 3,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $261,804.15. The trade was a 61.14% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders acquired a total of 6,116 shares of company stock worth $452,076 over the last 90 days. 4.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mesa Laboratories Price Performance

MLAB stock opened at $108.64 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $94.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.95. The stock has a market cap of $599.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 169.75 and a beta of 0.94. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.45 and a fifty-two week high of $115.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Mesa Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Mesa Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

About Mesa Laboratories

Mesa Laboratories, Inc (NASDAQ: MLAB) is a global provider of instrumentation products designed for critical process monitoring, testing and calibration. Headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado, the company serves a diverse set of end markets including healthcare, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, energy and industrial sectors. With a focus on precision measurement and validation, Mesa Laboratories helps customers ensure regulatory compliance, product safety and operational efficiency across complex manufacturing and sterilization processes.

The company’s product portfolio encompasses biological and chemical indicators for sterilization process validation, digital data loggers and sensors for environmental monitoring, and optical gas analyzers with sample-conditioning solutions for oil, gas and petrochemical applications.