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

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

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

Institutional Trading of Bio-Rad Laboratories

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1,763.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 38,778 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,809,000 after purchasing an additional 36,697 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 22.9% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 21,932 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,114,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 16.9% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 17,198 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,794,000 after buying an additional 2,487 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 38.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,168 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $604,000 after buying an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hound Partners LLC increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 125.9% during the first quarter. Hound Partners LLC now owns 97,724 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,241,000 after buying an additional 54,456 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Down 4.4%

Bio-Rad Laboratories stock opened at $294.01 on Friday. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 1-year low of $219.42 and a 1-year high of $343.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.44 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $282.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $291.70. 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 (NYSE:BIO) last released 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 net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 3.56%. The business had revenue of $592.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $589.91 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.54 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict 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.