Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Stock Position in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. $BIO

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,319 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,767 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories were worth $11,610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BIO. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth about $117,303,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 4,534.4% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 399,207 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $120,956,000 after purchasing an additional 390,593 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 2,271.3% in 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 worth $111,363,000 after purchasing an additional 380,422 shares in the last quarter. Mangrove Partners IM LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,568,000. Finally, Scopia Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth about $22,862,000. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE BIO opened at $304.46 on Thursday. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.14 and a fifty-two week high of $343.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.37 and a current ratio of 3.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $281.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $291.73. The stock has a market cap of $8.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.16 and a beta of 1.08.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.97 by ($0.08). Bio-Rad Laboratories had a return on equity of 3.56% and a net margin of 6.52%.The business had revenue of $592.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $589.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. will post 9.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BIO. Weiss Ratings cut Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Bio-Rad Laboratories in a report on Friday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup cut Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $375.00 to $300.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $303.33.

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.