Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $303.3333.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Friday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $375.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 115.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 142 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 76.9% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 184 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Down 1.7%

NYSE BIO opened at $312.72 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 2.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 1-year low of $211.43 and a 1-year high of $343.12. The company has a 50 day moving average of $278.57 and a 200-day moving average of $292.14. The company has a market cap of $8.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.52 and a beta of 1.06.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $592.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $589.91 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 3.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.54 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 9.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.