Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $358.50.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories from $265.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research report on Monday, December 29th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bio-Rad Laboratories

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BIO. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 25.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 30,310 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,382,000 after buying an additional 6,100 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 45.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 105,006 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,575,000 after acquiring an additional 32,874 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 95.3% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 37,383 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,105,000 after acquiring an additional 18,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories in the second quarter worth $652,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.24% of the company’s stock.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE BIO opened at $269.71 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 4.19, a current ratio of 5.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a twelve month low of $211.43 and a twelve month high of $343.12. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $299.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $301.34.

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The medical research company reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by ($0.06). Bio-Rad Laboratories had a net margin of 29.42% and a return on equity of 3.86%. The company had revenue of $693.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $694.64 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Bio-Rad Laboratories will post 10.81 EPS for the current year.

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.