Irenic Capital Management LP Acquires New Stake in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. $MLAB

Irenic Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 25,000 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,962,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new position in Mesa Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $238,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 114.9% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 70,138 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $5,506,000 after acquiring an additional 37,499 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP lifted its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 83.8% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 46,121 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,620,000 after acquiring an additional 21,031 shares in the last quarter. Monimus Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Monimus Capital Management LP now owns 40,842 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,206,000 after acquiring an additional 7,098 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Mesa Laboratories by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 116,337 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $9,133,000 after acquiring an additional 17,150 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings downgraded Mesa Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $94.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mesa Laboratories

In other news, SVP Brian David Archbold sold 1,151 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.27, for a total value of $116,561.77. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 3,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $375,711.70. This represents a 23.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO John Sakys sold 1,223 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.27, for a total transaction of $123,853.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 16,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,674,803.26. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,492 shares of company stock worth $252,365. Insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Mesa Laboratories Trading Down 4.7%

NASDAQ:MLAB opened at $94.95 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $524.12 million, a P/E ratio of 79.13 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $101.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.64. Mesa Laboratories, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.45 and a 1 year high of $113.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.78 by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $63.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.21 million. Mesa Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.96% and a net margin of 2.69%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.31) EPS.

Mesa Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mesa Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.33%.

Mesa Laboratories Company Profile

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.