Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $368.20.

BIO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $340.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $401.00 target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st.

Insider Activity at Bio-Rad Laboratories

In other Bio-Rad Laboratories news, COO Andrew J. Last sold 3,000 shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.94, for a total value of $989,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,559 shares in the company, valued at $2,494,016.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Andrew J. Last sold 3,000 shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.94, for a total value of $989,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,494,016.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP James Barry sold 623 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.49, for a total value of $205,895.27. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,582.03. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at about $180,040,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 32,296.9% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 636,275 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $173,773,000 after acquiring an additional 634,311 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 64.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 494,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $135,081,000 after purchasing an additional 193,700 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 26.2% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 649,522 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $177,391,000 after purchasing an additional 134,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 30.8% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 514,906 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $178,091,000 after purchasing an additional 121,272 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of BIO stock opened at $346.37 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $330.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $307.14. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a one year low of $261.59 and a one year high of $364.24. The stock has a market cap of $9.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.43 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.

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 will post 9.45 EPS for the current year.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

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.