Wells Fargo & Company MN Raises Stock Position in Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB)

Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in shares of Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB) by 23.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,199 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,869 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in Proto Labs were worth $594,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Proto Labs in the fourth quarter worth about $87,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Proto Labs during the 4th quarter worth approximately $192,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS acquired a new position in Proto Labs during the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. LPL Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Proto Labs in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Proto Labs during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $235,000. 84.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PRLB. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Proto Labs from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Proto Labs from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Proto Labs in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.67.

Proto Labs Trading Up 7.2 %

PRLB stock opened at $38.39 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.81. The company has a market capitalization of $912.57 million, a P/E ratio of 59.06 and a beta of 1.52. Proto Labs, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.76 and a twelve month high of $46.73.

Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.14). The company 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%. Proto Labs’s revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Proto Labs, Inc. will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Proto Labs announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 buy up to 9.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Proto Labs

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.