Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) Upgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on PRLB. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Proto Labs from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Proto Labs from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered Proto Labs from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Benchmark upped their price target on Proto Labs from $70.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $89.00.

Proto Labs Stock Performance

Shares of Proto Labs stock opened at $88.92 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.85. Proto Labs has a twelve month low of $45.10 and a twelve month high of $91.98. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.14 and a beta of 1.40.

Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $149.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.53 million. Proto Labs had a net margin of 5.44% and a return on equity of 4.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. Proto Labs has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.560-0.640 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Proto Labs will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Sven Wehrwein sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total transaction of $154,560.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 32,505 shares in the company, valued at $2,511,986.40. This represents a 5.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael R. Kenison sold 16,030 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.49, for a total value of $1,113,924.70. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 18,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,298,281.67. This represents a 46.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 25,463 shares of company stock valued at $1,790,727 in the last quarter. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Proto Labs

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Group One Trading LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Proto Labs in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Proto Labs by 7,380.0% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 748 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 738 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Proto Labs during the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in Proto Labs during the 1st quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Proto Labs during the 4th quarter worth about $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.54% of the company’s stock.

About Proto Labs

Proto Labs, Inc is a digital manufacturing company that offers on-demand production services for custom parts and prototypes. Utilizing technologies such as 3D printing (additive manufacturing), CNC machining and injection molding, the company transforms digital CAD designs into functional parts on accelerated timelines. Its platform-driven process combines automated quoting, rapid tool generation and manufacturing execution to serve product developers, engineers and small- to medium-sized production runs.

Founded in 1999 by Larry Lukis, Proto Labs has championed the application of digital workflows to traditional manufacturing methods.