Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Reduces Position in Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC reduced its position in shares of Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB) by 71.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,129 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 10,452 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in Proto Labs were worth $161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PRLB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Proto Labs by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,300,864 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,851,000 after buying an additional 68,006 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Proto Labs by 71.9% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 738,576 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,871,000 after purchasing an additional 308,970 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Proto Labs by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 571,851 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $22,354,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares in the last quarter. S Squared Technology LLC increased its stake in Proto Labs by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. S Squared Technology LLC now owns 307,003 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,001,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Proto Labs by 76.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 244,987 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,711,000 after purchasing an additional 105,813 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PRLB shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Proto Labs in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised Proto Labs from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Proto Labs from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Proto Labs presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.67.

Proto Labs Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE PRLB opened at $39.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $929.16 million, a P/E ratio of 60.14 and a beta of 1.37. Proto Labs, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.76 and a 52-week high of $46.73. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $35.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.01.

Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $126.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $123.71 million. Proto Labs had a return on equity of 2.44% and a net margin of 3.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Proto Labs, Inc. will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Proto Labs declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to reacquire up to 9.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Proto Labs Profile

Proto Labs, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital manufacturer of custom parts in the United States and Europe. The company offers injection molding; computer numerical control machining; three-dimensional printing; and sheet metal fabrication products. It serves developers and engineers, who use 3D computer-aided design software to design products across a range of end-markets.