Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases 145,623 Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. $BIO

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 6,586.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 147,834 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 145,623 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.55% of Bio-Rad Laboratories worth $41,209,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BIO. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 2,570,473 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $778,828,000 after purchasing an additional 50,154 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,077,072 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $326,344,000 after acquiring an additional 14,134 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 0.6% during the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 609,284 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $170,837,000 after acquiring an additional 3,398 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 494,472 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $149,820,000 after acquiring an additional 76,117 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BIO. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $375.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Friday, May 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $303.33.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Up 6.6%

Shares of NYSE BIO opened at $298.46 on Friday. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 1 year low of $236.73 and a 1 year high of $343.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 2.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $284.42 and a 200 day moving average of $288.48. The stock has a market cap of $7.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.17 and a beta of 1.08.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Bio-Rad Laboratories had a return on equity of 3.56% and a net margin of 6.52%.The business had revenue of $592.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $589.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.54 EPS. Bio-Rad Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.42 EPS 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.