Westport Asset Management Inc. Makes New $881,000 Investment in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. $BIO

Westport Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $881,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $778,828,000 after purchasing an additional 50,154 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,089,323 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $303,637,000 after acquiring an additional 12,251 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased 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 worth $149,820,000 after buying an additional 76,117 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1.7% during 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. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 2,271.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 397,171 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $111,363,000 after purchasing an additional 380,422 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on BIO. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday. Zacks Research raised shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bio-Rad Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $343.33.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Up 3.6%

BIO opened at $365.40 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $9.77 billion, a PE ratio of 44.29 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $312.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $291.60. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a twelve month low of $236.73 and a twelve month high of $367.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.33, a current ratio of 3.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical research company reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.87. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a return on equity of 3.54% and a net margin of 8.59%.The firm had revenue of $651.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $623.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.14 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.