Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) Shares Gap Down to $290.86

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $290.86, but opened at $275.83. Bio-Rad Laboratories shares last traded at $273.29, with a volume of 49,068 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $395.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $484.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $365.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $468.00.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Down 2.7 %

The company has a current ratio of 5.83, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.71 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $331.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $321.00.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical research company reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.17. Bio-Rad Laboratories had a positive return on equity of 3.90% and a negative net margin of 23.86%. The company had revenue of $681.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.31 EPS. Bio-Rad Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 10.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael Crowley sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.00, for a total transaction of $1,008,000.00. Following 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 17.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,389,889 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $771,671,000 after buying an additional 46,119 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,598,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $765,763,000 after purchasing an additional 16,216 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 958,704 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $399,914,000 after buying an additional 2,869 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 955,732 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $342,582,000 after purchasing an additional 28,724 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 460,215 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $220,452,000 after purchasing an additional 51,419 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Company Profile

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.