Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Friday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on BIO. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $484.00 to $480.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a buy rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price target for the company from $400.00 to $365.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $395.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Rad Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $468.00.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BIO opened at $326.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a current ratio of 5.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $333.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $322.96. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $261.59 and a fifty-two week high of $494.05. The firm has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.18 and a beta of 0.87.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical research company reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.17. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a negative net margin of 23.86% and a positive return on equity of 3.90%. The firm had revenue of $681.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.31 earnings per share. Bio-Rad Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Bio-Rad Laboratories

In other Bio-Rad Laboratories news, EVP Michael Crowley sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.00, for a total value of $1,008,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,332,512. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 17.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Rad Laboratories

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BIO. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the third quarter worth about $116,036,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $73,142,000. Parnassus Investments LLC bought a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the third quarter worth about $79,143,000. Parsifal Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $61,866,000. Finally, Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C bought a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the third quarter worth about $62,351,000. Institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc manufactures and distributes life science research and clinical diagnostic products in the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through two segments, Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics. The company develops, manufactures, and markets instruments, systems, reagents, and consumables to separate, purify, characterize, and quantitate biological materials such as cells, proteins, and nucleic acids for proteomics, genomics, biopharmaceutical production, cellular biology, and food safety markets.