Paragon Capital Management Inc. Takes $1.31 Million Position in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)

Paragon Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 4,793 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,309,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at about $180,040,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 32,296.9% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 636,275 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $173,773,000 after buying an additional 634,311 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 64.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 494,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $135,081,000 after acquiring an additional 193,700 shares in the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,866,000. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. grew its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 26.2% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 649,522 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $177,391,000 after acquiring an additional 134,856 shares in the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Andrew J. Last sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.94, for a total transaction of $989,820.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,494,016.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP James Barry sold 623 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.49, for a total value of $205,895.27. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,582.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Andrew J. Last sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.94, for a total transaction of $989,820.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,494,016.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BIO. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $401.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research report on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Bio-Rad Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $340.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $400.00 in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.20.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of BIO stock opened at $342.62 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $9.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.07 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 6.28 and a quick ratio of 4.63. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $327.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $307.32. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a one year low of $261.59 and a one year high of $366.30.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The medical research company reported $3.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.99. The business had revenue of $638.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $645.79 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a negative net margin of 51.73% and a positive return on equity of 3.77%. Bio-Rad Laboratories’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.00 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.31 EPS for the current year.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Profile

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc manufactures and distributes life science research and clinical diagnostic products in the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through two segments, Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics. The company develops, manufactures, and markets instruments, systems, reagents, and consumables to separate, purify, characterize, and quantitate biological materials such as cells, proteins, and nucleic acids for proteomics, genomics, biopharmaceutical production, cellular biology, and food safety markets.