Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) Upgraded at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $87.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Proto Labs from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Proto Labs from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Benchmark raised their price objective on Proto Labs from $70.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut Proto Labs from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.00.

Proto Labs Stock Performance

Shares of PRLB opened at $90.20 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.47. Proto Labs has a 1 year low of $43.76 and a 1 year high of $90.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of 72.16 and a beta of 1.40.

Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $149.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. Proto Labs has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.560-0.640 EPS. Analysts predict that Proto Labs will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sven Wehrwein sold 2,000 shares of Proto Labs stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total value of $154,560.00. Following the sale, the director owned 32,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,511,986.40. The trade was a 5.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael R. Kenison sold 16,030 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.49, for a total transaction of $1,113,924.70. Following the transaction, the insider owned 18,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,298,281.67. This trade represents a 46.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,463 shares of company stock worth $1,790,727. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PRLB. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its stake in Proto Labs by 791.9% during the second quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 1,034,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,408,000 after purchasing an additional 918,219 shares during the period. American Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Proto Labs by 126.0% during the fourth quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 631,311 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,938,000 after purchasing an additional 352,015 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Proto Labs by 4,959.0% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 227,655 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,517,000 after purchasing an additional 223,155 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Proto Labs during the 3rd quarter worth $6,425,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Proto Labs by 952.6% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 90,587 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,532,000 after purchasing an additional 81,981 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.