Brokerages Set Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Price Target at $303.33

Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) have received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the five analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $303.3333.

A number of brokerages have commented on BIO. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research lowered Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Friday, May 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $375.00 to $300.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 7th.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of NYSE:BIO opened at $317.06 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.37, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a 52-week low of $236.73 and a 52-week high of $343.12. The company has a 50 day moving average of $293.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $287.57. The company has a market capitalization of $8.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.23 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Institutional Trading of Bio-Rad Laboratories

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 2.6% during the first quarter. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. now owns 1,902 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $530,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 0.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,596 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,117,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 256 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 813 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 57.6% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 197 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Company Profile

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.