North Star Asset Management Inc. Takes $31.46 Million Position in Proto Labs, Inc. $PRLB

North Star Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 346,719 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,461,000. Proto Labs makes up about 1.2% of North Star Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PRLB. Group One Trading LLC bought a new position in shares of Proto Labs in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Proto Labs by 7,380.0% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 748 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Proto Labs during the second quarter worth about $37,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Proto Labs during the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in Proto Labs during the first quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Proto Labs from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Proto Labs from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Zacks Research raised shares of Proto Labs from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Proto Labs from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $87.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of 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 assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Proto Labs has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Insider Activity at Proto Labs

In related news, Director Sven Wehrwein sold 2,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director directly owned 32,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,511,986.40. This represents a 5.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Proto Labs Trading Up 1.7%

NYSE:PRLB opened at $80.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.16 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.91. Proto Labs, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.10 and a 1-year high of $93.00.

Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $149.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.53 million. Proto Labs had a return on equity of 4.80% and a net margin of 5.44%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Proto Labs, Inc. will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Proto Labs Company Profile

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.