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

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $303.3333.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BIO shares. Citigroup cut 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. Weiss Ratings cut Bio-Rad Laboratories from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Bio-Rad Laboratories from $320.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Bio-Rad Laboratories in a research note on Friday, May 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 target price for the company.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE BIO opened at $292.81 on Wednesday. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $236.73 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 $284.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $288.18. The stock has a market cap of $7.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.24 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 will post 9.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BIO. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 25.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 30,310 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,382,000 after purchasing an additional 6,100 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 45.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 32,874 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bio-Rad Laboratories by 95.3% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 37,383 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,105,000 after purchasing an additional 18,239 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories by 13.5% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 2,192 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.