Analysts Set Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Target Price at $358.50

Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $358.50.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BIO. Wall Street Zen lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Monday, December 29th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the third quarter valued at $117,303,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 4,534.4% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 399,207 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $120,956,000 after buying an additional 390,593 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 2,271.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 397,171 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $111,363,000 after buying an additional 380,422 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $75,037,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the second quarter valued at $30,987,000. Institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Down 0.3%

Bio-Rad Laboratories stock opened at $264.24 on Monday. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 1 year low of $211.43 and a 1 year high of $343.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $286.35 and its 200-day moving average is $299.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 4.19 and a current ratio of 5.62. The company has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.47 and a beta of 1.18.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The medical research company reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.57 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $693.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $694.64 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a return on equity of 3.86% and a net margin of 29.42%.Bio-Rad Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.81 earnings per share for the current year.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc is a global provider of life science research and clinical diagnostic products. The company operates through two primary business segments: Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics. Within the Life Science segment, Bio-Rad offers instruments, reagents and consumables for protein analysis, cell biology, gene expression and other molecular biology applications. The Clinical Diagnostics segment supplies quality control products, blood-typing reagents and instruments, and molecular diagnostic assays used in blood screening, infectious disease testing and routine clinical laboratories.

Founded in 1952 by David and Alice Schwartz and headquartered in Hercules, California, Bio-Rad has grown its footprint across the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other regions.