Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) Raised to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

BIO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $343.33.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Up 1.5%

BIO opened at $361.57 on Tuesday. 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 has a 52 week low of $236.73 and a 52 week high of $362.42. The stock has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a PE ratio of 43.83 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day moving average of $306.29 and a 200-day moving average of $289.47.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westport Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories during the second quarter valued at approximately $881,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 57.8% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 233,227 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $68,478,000 after acquiring an additional 85,393 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 38.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,168 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1,763.4% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 38,778 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,809,000 after acquiring an additional 36,697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 22.9% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 21,932 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,114,000 after acquiring an additional 4,082 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

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.