Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $303.3333.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BIO shares. Citigroup cut shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $375.00 to $300.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research report on Friday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 2,570,473 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $778,828,000 after purchasing an additional 50,154 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,089,323 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $303,637,000 after purchasing an additional 12,251 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 0.6% in the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 609,284 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $170,837,000 after purchasing an additional 3,398 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 494,472 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $149,820,000 after buying an additional 76,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1.7% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 459,887 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $128,948,000 after acquiring an additional 7,754 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Down 3.6%

BIO stock opened at $271.10 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 2.37. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 52-week low of $235.01 and a 52-week high of $343.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $284.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $288.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.66 and a beta of 1.08.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by ($0.08). Bio-Rad Laboratories had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 3.56%. The firm had revenue of $592.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $589.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 9.42 EPS 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.