Norges Bank Acquires New Shares in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. $BIO

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 114,194 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,600,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 0.42% of Bio-Rad Laboratories at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 115.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 142 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 76.9% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 184 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 457.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 223 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. 65.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of BIO opened at $291.73 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.81 billion, a PE ratio of 48.06 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 2.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $282.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $291.50. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a 1-year low of $219.94 and a 1-year high of $343.12.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $592.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $589.91 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 3.56%. Bio-Rad Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.54 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.42 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BIO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research report on Friday, May 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $375.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $303.33.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Company Profile

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.