Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) Stock Price Down 5.7% – Time to Sell?

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) shares traded down 5.7% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $359.18 and last traded at $356.1140. Approximately 108,769 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 315,435 shares. The stock had previously closed at $377.71.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BIO. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $343.33.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $9.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.38 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 3.14 and a quick ratio of 2.33. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $365.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $313.01.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical research company reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.87. The business had revenue of $651.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $623.99 million. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a net margin of 8.59% and a return on equity of 3.54%. The company’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.61 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Bio-Rad Laboratories

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1.1% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,089,323 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $303,637,000 after purchasing an additional 12,251 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 494,472 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $149,820,000 after purchasing an additional 76,117 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 57.8% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 233,227 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $68,478,000 after purchasing an additional 85,393 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 165,107 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $50,026,000 after purchasing an additional 9,583 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $34,600,000. 65.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc is a global life science research and clinical diagnostics company headquartered in Hercules, California. Founded in 1952, the company develops, manufactures and sells products that support scientific research, biotechnology production, medical testing and quality assurance.

Its Life Science segment provides instruments, reagents, consumables and software used in areas such as genomics, proteomics, cell biology, digital PCR, electrophoresis, chromatography and biopharmaceutical manufacturing.